


Take Off The Suit And What Are You?

by AvengingVulcan



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, BAMF Tony, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Genius Tony Stark, Good Loki, I Don't Even Know, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Loki-centric, My First Fanfic, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Pepper bashing, Possible eventual Loki/Stark but only maybe, Science Bros, Tony has magic, Tony-centric, currently editing, sorry for the wait
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2018-04-04 19:01:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 49,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4149297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengingVulcan/pseuds/AvengingVulcan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark walked smoothly up the steps to stand next to the podium, his brightest smile plastered onto his face. He was tired of this hero stuff, always cleaning up after SHIELD. Following orders was not his thing and after what he had seen on SHILD's "private" server he wasn't so sure being a hero would work out...</p><p>Oh well, he tried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hero?

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my first stories to write and I am still in the process of editing all of the chapters. Please be gentle!
> 
> Contains spoilers for Thor 2 and Captain America 2 and I hope to someday incorporate the Avengers 2 storyline into mine.
> 
> **On second thought, I will not really be incorporating the Avengers 2 storyline or any later movies into the story. I might if it become convenient for the story but I'm not going to force it.** updated December 31, 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am currently in the process of revising all chapters! Once I am done revising I will begin posting new chapters.

Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark walked smoothly up the steps to stand next to the podium, his brightest, most fake, smile plastered onto his face—just another mask to wear over the others as he danced to the ridiculous tune that the finicky public and media wanted to hear.

Below him stood all the reporters, news crews, and the crowd of fans, everyone here to see the famous Iron Man and hear about his latest spectacular accomplishments as a superhero. Cameras flashed brightly, blinding him, while voices rose in a clamor for attention, questions asked and comments thrown, the sound nearly deafening him.

God, he hated this. All the people in the crowd, pushing, shoving and shouting at him with praises and questions. He absolutely despised the never-ending string of questions that were thrown at him day after day, a ceaseless assault of praise, queries, and insults. The absolute worst was the mindless praises from the crowd. Why couldn't they just thank him by staying out of his way and out of trouble? Of course, if it wasn't praise it was questions that they threw at him—they never left him alone. Everyone wanted to know what he was up to, why Pep- Ms. Potts left Stark Industries, and how he was doing so well as CEO. He didn't want to keep masquerading as the superhero that he knew he wasn't.

The billionaire knew exactly how this event would play out. Some big-shot politician was going to give him a nice, big, shiny medal, shake his hand and tell him "good job" while the crowds screamed and the cameras flashed but he didn't want that. He didn't care about the medals or the congratulations that he received; the world in Tony's mind had shifted with the times because everything had changed.

Nothing had been the same since Thor decided he was retiring to marry Jane Foster. The god had returned to Earth with the news that his brother, Loki, had died saving his life. Apparently, Loki, Thor, and Jane had been very much involved in the London phenomena. They had successfully contained the Ether substance and taken it to another realm where it would be safe. Another all-powerful substance that had almost destroyed the Earth.

Nothing had been the same since Captain America had found his long lost friend Bucky. Immediately after their reunion, Steve had decided Bucky and him needed some time to catch up and help Bucky remember the life he had lived with Steve Rogers so long ago. The Winter Soldier had been found standing in the Captain America section of the museum, staring at the description of a past that he should remember but could only catch tantalizing glimpses of, after he had dragged Steve out of the river where he had fallen as the helicarriers had destroyed themselves in the sunny sky above the pair.

Yes, Tony had "helped" SHIELD out with the helicarriers because, when he was done with them, the ships were slightly less effective in carrying out their original purpose. The complication of the plans, however, successfully fooled SHIELD into thinking they had captured his brilliance. Yes, the engineer had known that the brand new helicarriers were going to become scraps before they actually did anything because he knew that Captain America would never let people die without a proper trial. He had also made sure that when Natasha put all of SHIELDs files online that his files were missing from the bunch.

Nothing had been the same since all of SHIELDs dirty secrets had been exhumed and it was revealed SHIELD had a hidden HYDRA branch in it. The Black Widow had retreated with Fury, Hill, and Coulson (Tony had known Coulson wasn't dead a few weeks after what happened at New York. Regularly hacking SHIELDs mainframe for fun had so many benefits) to wait out the catastrophe and deal with the press' and world's reactions to the influx of information.

The future was changing and Tony Stark was changing with it.

Just after the Battle of Manhattan, whilst absentmindedly hacking into SHIELD, Tony had discovered SHIELDs plans for the future. He had immediately recognized the new helicarriers for what they were: massive killing machines. That bit of info was useful but not at all surprising, after all, the council had tried to nuke a city containing 8 million people. The "upgrades" he had designed for the helicarriers had tiny flaws that no one but a genius of his caliber would recognize, specifically designed to leave doors for Captain America and his merry crew to gain control of the helicarriers that much easier.

But the helicarriers were not the only things of importance that Tony had found. SHIELD wanted him out and they had plans to take everything from him, his suits (which he had rebuilt when Ms. Potts left), JARVIS, his houses, and his company. He had become CEO after Ms. Potts had left so SI was all his again and, not to brag, he was doing a damn good job.

He would never let SHIELD or any other corporation take away what was his.

He was tired of being the perfect little hero to clean up all the messes of other people, namely SHIELD. When he had figured out Natasha was going to put all of SHIELDs secrets onto the internet so it would destroy both HYDRA and SHIELD he was completely unconcerned, maybe even a little happy that someone else was doing the cleaning for once. He had censored, deleted, and altered all information on SHIELDs servers regarding himself long ago to keep him and his safe. He was, however, surprised that Natasha actually followed through with putting everything out there for everyone to see instead of just bits and pieces.

But just because SHIELD was in shambles didn't mean that everyone who wanted Iron Man or Tony Stark out of the picture was gone.

Cheering jerked him out of his contemplations and he absentmindedly noticed the small weight of a medal that was pinned to his suit. Yay, another medal and congratulations for something that he didn't really care about.

Tony plastered on his best smile as he waved politely at the crowd of fans and walked over to his latest suit, Mark 54. The suit encased him quicker than any of the other models, surrounding him in its cushioned interior. His favorite part of this suit was how it was lighter and stronger than previous models due to a new metal that he had found and combined with his gold-titanium alloy from Mark 2.

Soon, he was blasting over the river, skimming the waves and generally enjoying the wonders of flight. It was only JARVIS's announcement of a new arrival in the penthouse that shortened the joy ride.

Iron Man's feet hit the landing platform hard and, rims spinning, he walked forward as JARVIS removed and stored his latest creation. As he strode forward, schematics and upgrades for the Mark 55 flickered through his mind.

Tony Stark walked casually through the glass doors to find a man with sparkling green eyes slouching on a stool by the bar, face hidden by shadows, ghostly pale skin pallid in the harsh sunlight, and a bottle of scotch sitting unopened in front of him.

"I believe you owe me a drink."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned to this story and will be adding more soon. Because it's been so long (I'm really sorry about that) I will be reviewing all of the chapters to make sure they are perfect before adding any more. This, however, shouldn't take too long.
> 
> Please leave a review; they are my motivation to write!
> 
> Revised: January 12, 2018


	2. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: It was only then that Tony noticed the gradually widening puddle of blood around Loki, the bruising that mottled the other man's arms where the tunic had moved, the extreme paleness of the god, and the fear in the brilliant green orbs.

"I believe you owe me a drink," Loki stated smoothly as Tony walked in through the glass doors of the penthouse and froze, breath catching in his throat and eyes widening in shock.

Loki was in his house, slouched unthreateningly on a barstool, but all Tony could see was the confident smirk of the god that had thrown him out of a window, the god who had created a portal and brought in aliens, the portal that he had taken the nuke through, the portal that held the endless emptiness of the void that no words could describe.

Dimly, Tony could hear JARVIS attempting to talk him out of the panic attack that gripped him but it was just white noise as he struggled for breath and collapsed onto the floor. One hand flew to his new and improved arc reactor that he had put in his chest to fill the gap left by the surgery, gripping at the smooth casing to solidify its existence in his mind. The steady glow of the miniature arc was normally reassuring but this time even the constant, blue light was unable to calm his racing heart.

In his panic, Tony missed Loki's fearful looks at the ceiling, searching for JARVIS, and the widening eyes as he watched Tony fall, unable to understand what was happening or help avoid it. All Tony could see was Loki.

Loki, who wore the same broken mask. Loki, who had the same honeyed voice, and Loki, whose same brittle smirk graced his lips. Everything was exactly the same except for small details and eyes. The eyes were all wrong. In place of the mesmerizing blue was a piercing green that shone as bright as emeralds.

Tony's mind struggled to comprehend the change and the significance of such a change when there was an almost audible click. Blue of the tesseract, Clint's blue eyes, Loki's blue eyes. And Tony was able to breathe again.

His newly gained understanding, however small, helped lessen the fear that caused the panic attacks in the first place. For a genius like Tony, knowledge was everything and the fear and uncertainty of the unknown was what triggered each and every one of his panic attacks, but now something was different. Now Tony had Loki, the perfect person to answer all of the questions that tore him from sleep every night.

Some things were becoming clear now. This wasn't the same Loki, Loki had been influenced before, the blue eyes now being green evidence of that, and now he was released from his controller. But why was he at his tower? Thor had taken Loki to Asgard and then returned a few months later with news that Loki had died in the fight for the Ether. And why was the chaos god cowering next to one of his barstools looking fearfully at both the ceiling and Tony?

It was only then that Tony noticed the sheer amount of blood—dried and not—that Loki was covered in, the bruising that mottled the other man's arms where the tunic had moved, the extreme paleness of the god, and the fear in the brilliant green eyes.

"Mute," Tony coughed out as his ability to breathe returned and JARVIS fell silent. All of Loki's attention snapped to him as the inventor stood shakily and stumbled over to where the ebony-haired god was crouched, each step more steady as he recovered his balance and breath.

"It's ok, I'm fine. That happens more than I want it to but it's not like I can stop it. Besides, I've had far worse. The voice in the ceiling is JARVIS. He is an AI, Artificial Intelligence, and I built him. Don't worry, everyone freaks out when they first hear him. Thor kept talking about a spirit in the walls for weeks after he heard JARVIS for the first time..."

Tony rambled on about each Avenger's hilarious reactions to hearing JARVIS as he cautiously crept closer to Loki. As he continued to talk the other man began to relax, but Tony was still worried about the visible wounds that were still bleeding, blood smearing wherever the god touched.

Finally, Tony reached out towards the ebony haired man who immediately tensed back up and grimaced slightly at the pain before the mask of indifference slid over his face once again.

"You do realize that my floor is very expensive, right?" Tony asked with a small smile. Loki cocked his head to the side in confusion. Clearly, he did not know that the tile for the floor was so very expensive or why that was so important.

"You're getting blood all over my very nice, very new, tiles so either get up and sit yourself on the couch or let me help you," Tony said as he stared directly into the deep green eyes of the fearful god crouched in front of him.

Slowly, Tony reached out and lightly grasped Loki's arm, ignoring the flinch the touch caused and pulled both Loki and himself toward the living room. All the while Loki was staring at Tony like he was crazy.

"Why are you doing this?" Loki asked softly, his normally smooth voice rough.

"Because you are hurt," Tony answered honestly, "and because you are the only one that can give me the answers that will let me sleep."

The last part was added softly, an admission that Tony did not normally make. Ms. Potts had known about the nightmare but had never understood why he had them and had never cared enough to try and help much.

After she had left, Tony had retreated behind Iron Man's mask and the usual Tony Stark facade of narcissism. How ironic was it that "Natalie Rushman" and classified him as having textbook narcissism when that was literally what it was, narcissism taken right from a textbook. The narcissism facade was just another shield against the rest of the world, another barrier around his fragile heart.

Tony didn't know how he had expected Loki to respond but the understanding in the broken god's eyes was too much. Instead, Tony simply led Loki over to the couch, laid him down gently and went to get the first aid kit, some water, and towels.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked while he strode into the bathroom.

"Bottom cabinet, on the far left," came the answer from the nearest speaker. Tony followed the directions and grabbed the first aid kit from where it had been stashed and hurried back into the living room.

Loki had not moved from his position on the couch and, with his eyes closed, he almost looked like he was sleeping. It was only when Tony noticed how rapid the skinny god's chest was moving did the genius realize that Loki was trying not to panic.

"I got the stuff," Tony announced as he walked over to sit on the edge of the couch, careful not to touch the ebony haired man yet. As soon as the inventor spoke, Loki's eyes snapped open and his whole body tensed before Tony was identified and, while the god's muscles relaxed somewhat, the terrified alertness never left the intelligent green eyes.

It was only after the tenseness of the muscles disappeared almost completely that Tony moved to open the first aid kit before setting it aside in favor of the towels and water.

"I know you are hurt but before I can do anything to help I need to clean you up a bit," Tony explained as he poured water over one of the towels and moved to clean off the god's filthy hands and arms. He moved slowly, not wanting to startle the ebony haired man, and gently rubbed the grime away to reveal even more cuts and bruises.

Each new mark angered Tony more. It was inhumane to treat anyone this way, even murderers had rights, but it was unlikely that Loki had gotten these injuries from Asgard. Thor believed he was dead and so did the rest of the kingdom and—Tony assumed—the rest of the nine realms. Tony pushed those contemplations aside for the moment and used warm, wet towels to wipe off the dirt, blood, and sweat from the hurt god's hands, arms, and, when Loki expressed no dissatisfaction, his neck, and face.

Two filthy towels later, an oddly complacent Loki was as clean as he could be without a shower or bath. Tony threw the grimy towels in a corner for the cleaning bots to pick up later and turned to the dozing god when he suddenly realized what he was doing.

Tony Stark was voluntarily inviting a known criminal that everyone thought was dead into his home and taking care of him instead of turning him into the authorities like he should and he didn't give a damn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 12, 2018


	3. Cleaning Up The Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: "Hey, Sleeping Beauty?" Stark asked quietly as he lightly touched the foot that lay closest to him. Startled, Loki immediately pulled his feet closer to himself as his eyes snapped open and locked onto Tony's, who remained unmoving in an effort to not startle the injured man more than he already had. "It's ok," Tony said soothingly as he raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just trying to help."

_Tony Stark was voluntarily inviting a known criminal that everyone thought was dead into his home and taking care of him, instead of turning him into the authorities like he should, and he didn't give a damn._

o~*+*~o

Loki looked simultaneously better and worse after he had been cleaned up.

Most of the grime that had been layered over porcelain white skin had been washed away, the result being the two destroyed towels Tony had flung into the corner. Now that the dirt was gone, it was easy to see the half-healed cuts and bruises that were layered upon each other. It made Tony sick to imagine anyone inflicting this much damage on anyone, but he also gained an admiration of the strength Loki must possess to survive through the agony of the torture he had obviously endured.

In addition to the extensive cuts and bruises, there were at least four broken ribs, two cracked ones, and, according to JARVIS, there was evidence that Loki's captors had broken most of the bones in Loki's body at one point. Luckily, the cracked and broken ribs did not need to be set and were the only ones that had not yet mended, the rest had healed properly. All that Tony needed to do was make sure that Loki did not hurt himself more than he already was.

The injury that worried Tony the most was a large gash across Loki's chest that stretched from the right side of his collarbone and tapered off near the left side of his hip. Tony had managed to stop the bleeding for the moment but he knew that what he really needed to do was remove the filthy tunic and bandage the god's chest before it got infected or started to bleed again.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty?" Stark asked quietly as he lightly touched the foot that lay closest to him. Startled, Loki immediately pulled his feet in and his eyes snapped open and locked onto Tony, who remained unmoving in an effort to not startle the injured man more than he already had. "It's ok," Tony said soothingly as he raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just trying to help."

Loki glared silently for a moment before giving the smallest of nods. Tony took this as his cue to continue. "I need you to get out of your tunic armor thing so I can bandage your chest," Tony explained slowly as he leaned forward slightly and tried to make sense of the buckles and ties on the vest.

After a few minutes of useless plucking and tugging, Tony sighed and leaned back in defeat. For all of his intelligence, the inventor could not figure out how anyone could possibly put on, much less take off, a vest like the one Loki was wearing. Glancing up at the god, Tony noticed that the emerald eyes were no longer quite so flinty and seemed to be almost sparkling with amusement.

With another sigh, Tony reached into the first aid kit he had set aside and pulled out the scissors with the idea that at the very least he could try to cut away the leather. Upon seeing what Loki perceived as a weapon all traces of the previous amusement fled and the injured god attempted to find a way to defend himself. Too tired and too hurt to do much, the only thing Loki succeeded in doing was moving his arms over his chest where the pressure irritated the wound which began to bleed again.

A small whimper of pain and fear escaped Loki's chapped lips, the small sound making Tony glance up to see the exhaustion and pain in Loki's eyes and notice the stiff, defensive posture. Moving very slowly, Tony lifted the scissors and dangled them from a finger in a display of surrender.

"I can't get your vest thing undone so I'm going to try and cut through the leather with these. I'm only going to cut through the vest and the tunic and I'm going to try to move you as little as possible, okay?"

There was no nod in response but Loki's arms flopped back to his side, leaving his chest open. Tony could see the effort it took the god to do something as simple as move his arms and thought back to how the same god had crawled out of his floor after being swung around by the Hulk. Granted, it had been a few hours after being swung around that Loki had managed to move on his own but the wounds were not healing as fast as he would have expected; it was likely Loki's magic was either completely depleted or bound in some way.

Dismissing those thoughts for later, Tony began to cut through leather and fabric alike to get to the reopened cut beneath. The inventor then carefully removed the tunic and vest from Loki with as little movement from the god as possible. When the gash was fully visible Tony glanced up and found himself locked in the raven-haired man's unwavering stare. They remained that way for a moment before Loki looked away and Tony, taking the move as permission, immediately began to clean the area surrounding the wound and then the wound itself.

The cut was a deep red line that stretched across Loki's chest; crimson tears dripped from the reopened gash to make red ribbons that traced their paths down the god's torso. The god's chest and the area surrounding the gash were covered in bruises and the occasional burn mark, more damage than any other place in the raven-haired man's body so far. Tony was not looking forward to examining the other man's back if this was the lasting damage that was done to his torso.

Despite being as gentle as he could when cleaning the gash, Tony would occasionally hear a soft whimper or moan of pain from Loki. Pain and exhaustion were quickly breaking down what remained of Loki's stoicness but there wasn't a lot Tony could do to help. Because of the nature of the injuries, Tony was extra careful when cleaning the wounds and wrapping the gauze. Infection was a likely possibility and there wasn't much you could do with broken ribs except bind them and wait.

It was not long before the wound was clean and the god's chest was bandaged and wrapped but it felt like much longer. By now the adrenaline rush from seeing Loki and the subsequent panic attack had drained away and the weariness that stemmed from not being able to truly sleep in nearly seventy-two hours was pulling at his mind. Hopefully, the appearance of Loki would stall the nightmares for a while and allow him to get some real sleep.

Tony reluctantly pushed himself off of his oh so comfortable couch with a soft groan as he stretched. Turning to his new houseguest, Tony clapped his hands and announced, "All done! Now for your room..." Tony trailed off when he noticed that Loki had finally succumbed to his large array of injuries, exhaustion, or, more likely, a combination of the two. He was lying peacefully on his couch, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Even in sleep the raven-haired man did not look completely relaxed, reasonable given his recent situation. The only problem was that Loki was passed out on his couch where, he knew from experience, waking up in the morning was painful. And since Tony was "doing good" today that meant he had to move the god himself.

"Change of plans. JARVIS, do we have a guest room on this floor?" Tony asked as he bent over to pick up the sleeping god.

"Indeed we do, sir," JARVIS quickly replied. "There should be an available room at the end of the hallway, last door on the left."

Tony nodded in acknowledgment and carefully wrapped his arms around Loki, careful to avoid jarring the newly wrapped chest, and lifted the god into his arms. The breath whooshed out of the billionaire's lungs as he almost dropped the unconscious man back onto the couch. For being such a skinny guy Loki was deceptively heavy, so as Tony struggled under the unexpected weight he grunted out, "Forget about the guest room, J. Where is the closest room with a bed?"

"The closest room is located just around the corner on the right," JARVIS answered smoothly. As quickly as he could, Tony carried the unconscious god through the open doorway (Thank you, JARVIS) and swiftly deposited his burden on the bed as gently as his straining muscles would allow before sitting down on the bed next to Loki's sleeping body.

"Damn! How heavy can such a skinny man be?" Tony questioned in confusion. The inventor wasn't exactly weak, he couldn't afford to be. After all, the suit wasn't just controlled by JARVIS, he had to be strong enough to move in the suit without JARVIS's help and even though Iron Man wasn't made of iron it was pretty damn heavy.

"His bone structure does appear to be significantly denser than a humans, resulting in a higher weight," JARVIS helpfully supplied. Tony rolled his eyes. "His core temperature also appears to be lower than the human average by 5.64 degrees and I have adjusted the room temperature accordingly," JARVIS continued.

"Thanks, J," Tony said with a small smile. He hadn't even noticed the change in temperature but he wasn't exactly a normal human. The arc reactor emitted enough heat to warm the surrounding casing that rested in his chest making his body was a few degrees warmer than it should be. The cooler air was surprisingly comfortable and Tony allowed himself a moment to close his eyes and smile.

He only gave himself that short moment to rest before he got up to make sure Loki was comfortable. It was then, when he really opened his eyes and looked at the room he was in, that he remembered. In the midst of struggling with the deceptively heavy god and the bliss of the colder air, Tony's mind had not fully registered the significance of the room he was standing in. In a moment, the inventor's eyes snapped shut as he tried to block out the painful memories the room provoked.

This was the room that he had previously shared with Ms. Potts before her abrupt departure. With her and her nagging gone the room had been abandoned, Tony opting to work as long as he could in the lab before passing out either on his desk or managing to drag himself to the cot he had moved to the lab with the hopes that he was tired enough that his nightmares never invaded his mind. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but the work had let him successfully block out the loss that was associated with this room. He had been meaning to do some remodeling and take ht groom out but had never got around to it.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, Tony slowly moved the raven-haired man into a more comfortable position before pulling the silk sheets up to the god's chest. With a sigh, the billionaire brushed the inky black hair off of Loki's sleeping face. It was unlikely he would be able to get much rest tonight despite being as tired as he was.

"Notify me if there are any changes," Tony requested as he rose and walked out of the bedroom.

"Yes, sir," JARVIS replied softly as Tony continued his search for a distraction, answers, and new clothes that would fit his new house guest. He anticipated Loki would be here quite a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a little late. I'm getting ready for a big trip but the next one will definitely be on time.
> 
> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 15, 2018


	4. Remembrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: It was not very difficult to fool Thor into believing he was dead and shifting forms was a natural talent of his that did not even require magic to preform. It had been remarkably simple to avoid detection and spread the news of his death. Loki had been hopeful word would reach Thanos and the Mad Titan would end his search for revenge. In this respect his ploy was unsuccessful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is some Loki background from before the Avengers movie to the present. Enjoy!

The Void. Complete and utter nothingness. There was no heat, no cold, no sound, no light.

Loki did not know how long he fell before the Chitauri found him, fishing him out of the Void and saving him from inevitable insanity. After spending so long surrounded by so much nothing, the promise of something, anything, to experience was miraculous. He was no longer alone with his treacherous thoughts and guilt-ridden memories. He had fallen for so long after letting go, not wanting to let perfect Thor save him, that the Void had begun to tear his mind apart.

The pain the Chitauri and their masters brought was almost welcome.

At first he had simply been joyous that he could feel again, but that had all changed when the Other and his master, Thanos, came to him. Thanos, consumed by his lust for power, attempted to trick Loki into telling him what he wanted to know; but he was Loki, the God of Mischief and Lies, and he would not be manipulated. He resisted their main method of coercion with practiced ease, torture was nothing that he had not gone through before, but it was much harder to resist their alternative methods.

His mind was left no time to heal from the Void. Instead Thanos used his power to widen hairline fractures into a network of cracks that could shatter with a single, well placed push. Each time a new break was made, a small piece of Loki's will was chipped away. While Loki had no intention of submitting to Thanos and his slaves, he also had no intention of letting his mind shatter as he knew it would if he continued to resist.

In the end he was forced under by Thanos's great mind controlling powers, his mind too broken to resist completely. There had been a blue haze and then nothing. Loki was not dead but he no longer had his magic or a body that obeyed his will; there was only the blue haze that lingered in his vision and clouded out the rest.

He could not recall much of what happened after Thanos had put him under. What Loki could remember were fragments of a larger whole; the flash of red and gold across a black sky, a snip of music blasting from unseen speakers, an offer for a drink, the roar of a beast, and pain. There was always pain.

He remembered Thor escorting him back to Asgard to be punished for crimes that he did not even remember committing. He remembered hearing of the woman who had raised him, Frigga's, death and the pain that came with another loss. He remembered agreeing to help Thor save his woman, Jane, to get out of prison. He remembered the Ether, so like the tesseract, so full of power. He remembered dying.

It was not very difficult to fool Thor into believing he was dead. Shifting forms was a natural talent of his that did not even require magic to perform. It had been remarkably simple to avoid detection and spread the news of his death. Loki had been hopeful word would reach Thanos and the Mad Titan would end his vengeful search. In this respect, his ploy was spectacularly unsuccessful.

He had shifted into Odin for a time, taking the All Father's place while the man was in All Sleep, but that form was rather conspicuous so he soon shifted into someone less distinct. While the news had spread fast about his death, Loki still felt like he was being watched. It was not long after that he had been snatched away by some of the last remaining Chitauri and the Other, Odin awakening from the All Sleep at almost the same time. His absence was never noticed and the real Odin was back upon his golden throne.

The Other had promised him that if he failed to recover the tesseract Thanos would make him long for something sweet as pain. He was not completely unsuccessful in keeping his promise.

When Loki was recaptured, the first thing that the Chitauri did was tie him down and proceed to break virtually every bone in his body. Each time a bone was snapped his magic involuntarily rushed up to heal it and as soon as it was healed the bone was broken once again. The Chitauri found great pleasure in attempting to find creative ways to break each and every bone that would result in a shout or a cry.

By the time the Chitauri managed to wrench a sound from his throat his body had been drained of both energy and magic, all of his precious power involuntarily attempting to heal the many broken bones and bruises until there was nothing left the give and the bones remained broken.

Even though Loki's magic was drained, Thanos had let his minions toy with him for what felt like an eternity but had to have been only a couple of days more. They did not break any more of his bones but they were very thorough when using their fists, whips, and knives. The only thing used sparingly was the hot poker, a relief for him as he was not Ãsier but Jötun which meant he was better suited for the cold.

After the minions had their fun, the Mad Titan sent him to the one place where it was not only possible but probable one would long for pain. He was placed back into the Void.

Left with the pain of his injuries and the emptiness of his drained magic, Loki's mind was free to think and he noticed something different. The void that Thanos placed him in was not the complete nothingness of the true Void, this was a void of Thanos' creation. This meant that it could be escaped as it did not dampen magic but was instead made to break him faster. Luckily, Thanos had not accounted for how powerful a sorcerer Loki was or how quickly his magic would regenerate.

Just when he had reached the limits of his tolerance, Loki felt a spark. It was small but there, a fine trickle of magic flowing back to him. Not wanting to stay in the void another second longer, Loki twisted the space around him and let it take him to any place of its choosing because anywhere, anything, was better than where he was.

It was pure chance that he ended up in Stark Tower, the very same place where he was told he created a portal and threw the owner of the building out of a window. After all of the bad things he had been told or remembered doing in this place, he was quite surprised when the mortal human, Tony Stark, walked into the tower unarmed.

In that moment he remembered when this had happened before, how this man had offered him a drink that he had never received. It only seemed reasonable to ask for that drink now. Loki never could have anticipated the mortal falling to the ground, gasping for breath after seeing him. It was not his intention to hurt anyone but his concern for the mortal was quickly replaced by fear when he heard a voice speaking but could not discern from where the voice originated.

Thankfully, Stark recovered quickly and the mysterious voice fell silent at the mortal's command. What Loki had found odd was how, even though he had threatened this man and thrown him out of a window, it was Stark who had rambled on about the various reactions of different people to first hearing the mysterious voice named JARVIS. It was almost as if the mortal was trying to comfort him.

That, of course, was not the case but Loki had still found himself unconsciously relaxing as Stark rambled on; his waning strength making it difficult to stay tense and alert when there was nothing threatening the immediate vicinity.

It was only when the mortal reached out towards him did he realize how close the other man was to him and how tired he must be to not have noticed. He was more confused when Stark spoke of expensive tiles only to realize that there was blood smeared all over the counter top, a chair, and the ground where he was sitting. It had taken a second more to realize that all of the blood was his.

The mortal was surprisingly gently as he was directed to a nearby couch where his wounds were tended to by calloused hands with light touches. The glimmer of understanding and pain in the other man's eyes whenever Loki flinched or tensed up was something that Loki had never dealt with before. There was kindness in every touch, even if it caused pain, because Stark was genuinely trying to help. Such soft kindness was something foreign to Loki now, a memory faded away in times past.

Eventually Loki succumbed to his injuries and exhaustion but he had done so with a strange feeling of warmth. The kindness Stark had shown him was very much appreciated; his body and mind would finally be able to start healing from the damage they had received. Unfortunately, even the newfound sense of almost safeness could not comfort him when his nightmares came and ravaged his mind.

He was back in the Void, left with nothing but his pain and knowledge that the Chitauri would leave him here until he was broken only to resume the physical torture they had begun. He had no magic left, no hope to spare. There was nothing he could do but shout into the Void, unable to hear his screams in the Void's pure emptiness.

Suddenly, he stopped. Stopped screaming, stopped moving, stopped thinking because in the midst of the endless nothingness there was something. There was sound. It was very faint, but Loki could hear a voice in the emptiness of the Void.

He couldn't understand what the voice was saying; the soft sound completely contradicted the total emptiness that was the Void. The wrongness of the situation enveloped Loki's mind and he closed his eyes and effort to make sense of the contradictions as the voice grew more distinct. Loki could finally make out what was being said only to become more confused. The voice seemed to be calling his name. With effort, he opened his eyes.

He opened his eyes to see a pair of dark brown orbs staring worriedly back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because this story has gained a mind of its own and I'm never really sure what direction I'm going in until I am, I would love any ideas or requests that anyone has for my story. Not everything will get put in but I will try. Thank you!
> 
> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 15, 2018


	5. Similarities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: The more he thought about it the more him and Loki had in common so he simply stopped thinking about it. The time to have a heart to heart with a not-dead not-villain would be when said not-villain was coherent and healed.

"JARVIS? How do I have an entire tower with my name on it and not any clothes that could fit our new guest?" Tony grumbled as he rummaged through yet another drawer in search for something to fit his new house guest.

"I believe the lack of clothing that would be appropriate for your guest would because no one currently living on the premise is near Loki's stature-"

"J, you know that was a rhetorical question."

"-however, there appear to be some items you might find suitable in the closet of the room four doors down on your right."

"Then why didn't you tell me that twenty minutes ago?" Tony exclaimed even as a smile flickered faintly across his face. JARVIS might not be his first creation but he was probably the most advanced, only rivaled by the miniature arc reactor he had built in a cave. The best part was as JARVIS grew (Tony had inserted a code that allowed JARVIS to expand himself) the more emotion he seemed to express. JARVIS had become more than just some computer coding; he had become an assistant, watcher, keeper, and friend.

Tony's AI was the only friend that had stayed with him through the years—through the good and the bad. Ms. Potts was gone for good and he didn't see Rhodey much anymore, he was very involved with the military as War Machine or Iron Patriot as everyone else liked to call him.

Not that Tony would ever admit it, but he was lonely. His only companions were his own creations and JARVIS, who didn't really count as his creation because JARVIS had a self-made personality. For a while, Tony had wished the Avengers could have stayed together so he could keep Bruce, another man of science, close and have someone to work with but after what happened with Ms. Potts Tony reconsidered. Maybe it was for the best the Avengers went their separate ways after Manhattan, even if it left Tony, more or less, alone.

It did not take long to find the clothes that JARVIS had pointed out and the large black shirt and baggy grey sweatpants were quickly deemed perfect, or at least suitable, for the resident god of chaos. After the items passed inspection, Tony began to make his way back to the room Loki was in, the one he used to share with Ms. Potts. He was in no hurry, the room bringing all sorts of painful memories to the forefront. Tony was just getting out of the elevator when JARVIS began to speak.

"Sir, I believe your guest is experiencing a nightmare."

The announcement wasn't all that surprising after seeing the result of what had been done to Loki. Nevertheless, Tony quicken his steps, his previous reluctance to be back into that horrible room all but forgotten.

"Your guest appears to be in danger of harming himself further; I would suggest you quicken your pace, sir." Tony broke into a run, urged on by the tone of JARVIS' voice and the content of the message.

Tony rushed into the room and froze. The injured god was thrashing around, as if he was trying to evade something or someone, but was unable to move much due to the way the sheets were tangled in such a way that prohibited movement and aggravated Loki's many injuries. Tony flinched when he heard Loki whimper softly, the sound so pained that it hurt Tony to hear it. It was that sound that got Tony moving again.

The first thing Tony did was toss the clothes onto a nearby chair so he could begin untangling the sheets. Tony had to hold Loki down to stop the god's thrashing while he unwound the twisted sheets from where they were tangled around Loki's legs and right arm; all the while Tony whispered Loki's name in an attempt to wake him.

It surprised Tony how much he felt for this man; the one that had attacked New York, the one who had thrown him out of a window, the one who was a criminal, the one who everyone thought was dead. Of course, Tony knew that most or all of this was false and that Loki had been under some kind of control that made him attack New York. What didn't make sense was how the god went through so much trouble to help Thor and then faked his own death after earning Thor's trust back. However, now that Loki was here—beaten and bruised as he was—Tony could fill in some blanks.

It was reasonable to assume most or all of the injuries Loki had sustained were not from his imprisonment in Asgard but from somewhere else. Somewhere someone, or something, was not fooled by the death that had fooled Thor. That person, or thing, must have a vested interest in Loki for them to pay enough attention not to be fooled and then go through the trouble of capturing the god. It was not extremely hard to trick the bulky blond, Point Break obviously held brawn higher than the brain, but Loki had fooled all of Asgard with his trick. If Tony was right, and he normally was, Loki had a nemesis from his last that had recently come back to hurt hi (unlikely but possible) or the Chitauri's master was not killed in his valiant nuke attack and they had come for revenge (highly probable).

Dismissing those thoughts for now, Tony continued struggling with both Loki and the sheets. The chaos god was whipcord thin but he put up a hell of a fight. He was stronger than Tony anticipated but that strength was probably built by necessity. In a society like the one on Asgard, where brute strength is appreciated more than intelligence, Loki would have been forced to train and build up what his body could manage. Poor Loki must have been a lonely scholar in the midst of warriors, an outcast but a genius, with a father that left him in the shadow of the golden boy that was his "older brother". His life had been a lie, never knowing that he had been adopted until it was too late.

The more he thought about it, the more Tony realized he and Loki had in common so he simply stopped thinking about it. The time to have a heart to heart with a not-dead not-villain would be when said not-villain was coherent and healed.

By the time Tony finally unwound the sheets from where they had been practically strangling Loki as well as irritating his injuries, he was almost shouting the god's name as he tried to wake him up. Eventually Tony wrapped himself around Loki's body to get him to stop moving as he rambled nonsense in the most comforting tone he could manage while holding onto a squirming god of mischief. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tony wondered what exactly happened to this man that caused so much damage.

Then, out of nowhere, Loki froze. Tony was stunned by how quickly the raven-haired man went from a whimpering, thrashing mess to a good imitation of a statue. The other man didn't even seem to be breathing; his thin, heavily bandaged chest was barely rising and falling. On the upside, Loki's eyes were open, if somewhat glazed and unseeing.

Tony slowly maneuvered himself away from the slowly awakening man, over to the other end of the bed where he deemed it safe. He might know that Loki was not responsible for the attack on New York but he also knew that Loki could take care of himself. Loki was supposed to be the most powerful mage in the nine realms and he had been raised in the warrior society on Asgard. Thor had told Tony stories upon stories of Loki's feats and trick and Tony didn't think Thor had been lying about any of them. Now that he was incoherent again, Loki made a seriously dangerous opponent. Until Tony knew that Loki was not going to go crazy and magic him, he was going to make sure he stayed on the god's good side, at least until he forgot and got on his bad side just for the fun of it.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?"

Yes, it was a stupid question, and yes, Tony was an idiot for asking, but it felt like the right thing to do. He wasn't really expecting Loki to reply; after all, he knew what his answer would be—he wouldn't give one.

It was no surprise that Loki remained silent, staring resolutely at the deep blue of the sheets as if they could reveal an answer. Tony would know, he had done it himself enough times when Ms. Potts had still been around as his CEO and girlfriend. He would sit on the same bed in the same position and stare at the same sheets whenever she was angry at him.

Tony flopped onto his back at end of the bed and sighed. "I wouldn't either," Tony mumbled, recounting in his mind the first few times Ms. Potts had asked him the same question he had just asked Loki after he awoke from a nightmare. He had never answered, not once. He had remained silent, just like Loki was now.

What Tony almost missed as he stared blankly at the ceiling while reminiscing was the odd look that Loki gave him, a mixed look of surprise, confusion, fear, and reluctance. Only the god of chaos could pull off a look that drew from so many different emotions. When Tony glanced over to see how the silent man was doing he caught a glimpse of the strange look Loki was giving him but the other man quickly looked away. The near-perfect quiet was slightly unnerving to Tony so he decided to fill the silence with words that would hopefully take away some of the strange tension in the room.

"I already mentioned how you are probably the only person who has the answers I need, the answers I need so I can sleep at night, and it's true. It started in this very room." Tony never took his eyes off the ceiling as he spoke, knowing that telling Loki about his nightmares was probably one of the worst ideas he'd ever had but right now he didn't really care. He was tired and his mouth ran, even more, when he was tired. Plus, who was Loki going to tell?

"My previous CEO and girlfriend hated how I was never able to sleep soundly through the night, how I would always go down to my lab and work till I passed out so I wouldn't dream. I would stay up for days on end, working all the while in the hopes that I would be too tired to dream when my body gave out on me. I still do that sometimes."

"So sorry to cut in, sir, but you have a meeting in fifteen minutes and your attendance is mandatory," JARVIS cut in at the pause. Without a glance backward at the mystified god of mischief, Tony slid smoothly off the rumpled bed walked over to the door where he paused.

"I don't know when I'll be back but you can ask JARVIS anything you want. If you want to change your bandages there are more..." Tony paused and looked up at the ceiling for JARVIS's input.

"In the kitchen, sir," JARVIS interjected.

"In the kitchen. I found some clothes that might fit you, they are on that chair over there. Feel free to change or do whatever."

Without another word the CEO of Stark Industries was out the door and on his way to a meeting where he would have to coerce the board members to see his opinion with his silver tongue, a surprisingly easy feat for how much Ms. Potts had complained about them, all the while pretending that his bone-deep weariness was not there.

Loki was left alone with his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 15, 2018


	6. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: It appeared Midgard had a different view point than the Ãsier, if the mortal's reaction was anything to go by, or maybe Stark's reaction was as unique as the man himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another early-ish treat because I think if I wait longer than 5 days I will forget
> 
> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 15, 2018

As shocking as it had been to wake up and find Tony Stark hovering over him with something oddly similar to concern in the mortals warm brown eyes, the gruff gentleness the man retained after was even more so.

Stark had not pushed him to reveal the nature of his nightmare nor talk about it as Thor had loved to do. The man had not asked for an explanation of why he was here, why he was injured, or demand the answers the man believed Loki had. The mortal had been almost understanding and surprisingly quiet, only speaking in answer to Loki's questioning gaze. It was refreshing and confusing at the same time, so different than how he was raised.

As a small child, he would often sneak into Thor's room to sleep, craving the safeness and physical comfort he couldn't find during the day. The only problem had been Thor's incessant questions on why Loki was there and what Loki's nightmare had been about, the questions counteracting the comfort of another living soul resting near him as the bad memories returned.

As the years passed, the safeness that Loki had initially associated with Thor disappeared and was replaced by a dull pain as Thor grew closer to his friends and fighting while Loki was left in the shadow. Loki quickly learned to hide his "weaknesses", the main one being his affinity for magic as magic was known as a women's art, and instead taught himself in private with the occasional help from Frigga and the royal library.

On Asgard, his nightmares would be seen as more proof that he was unworthy of the title "prince", especially in the face of his golden brother, Thor. The Odinson wasn't even his true brother, only a man who had been raised alongside him to hate frost giants and the Jötun race. In retrospect, it was really only fitting that he was a frost giant himself.

It appeared Midgard had a different viewpoint than the Ãsier, if the mortal's reaction was anything to go by, or maybe Stark's reaction was as unique as the man himself.

The longer he thought about Stark and the tower that he now resided in, more and more memories of this place and the events that occurred here returned. Trickling in at a subdued pace, his memories of what had happened in the city during his previous visit ran through his mind like a play on fast forward. With each remembered word and action that his body, but not his mind, took Loki's curiosity in Stark, the Man of Iron, grew exponentially, as did his confusion on why this strange mortal did not consider Loki his enemy.

Stark had confronted him, unarmed, during his attack on the man's tower with no outward evidence of fear in the mortal's countenance. Even unarmed Stark had managed to evade the mind control technique that Loki himself had been unable to counteract and escape death when Loki had tossed him out of a window by use of a mechanical construct of his own making.

This peculiar mortal was obviously quite intelligent, further proven by his ability to create a sentient being out of mere computer coding (Loki was not nearly as ignorant about technology as Thor was and had actually understood some of what Stark had been saying when he had explained what the bodiless voice had been), but what did not make sense was why such an intelligent man would clean and bandage him after the damage he had done to this man and his home.

The excuse that the mortal needed answers that only Loki had the possibility of having was flimsy at best. The Chitauri had proven that you do not need a man to be coherent, much less comfortable, to draw an answer out of him. Surely Stark was itching for revenge; he would just have to ask when the man returned from his meeting. For now, Loki decided to test the boundaries and see where JARVIS would allow him to go.

It took a surprising amount of effort to lever himself out of bed, his injuries combined with his exhaustion draining Loki more than he anticipated but, after he was standing on his own two feet, it was not long before he was outfitted in the garments Stark had left him and was out the door.

Just around the corner was the living room and bar, both places familiar from both his returning memories of his invasion and from his abrupt landing earlier. His blood was now absent from the floor and furniture just as the towels Loki vaguely remembered Stark tossing in a corner had vanished without a trace; the room was spotless and Loki was at a loss to explain how the mortal had done it.

It was blatantly obvious Stark had not been the one that cleaned up the mess. It was far more likely that the human had gotten someone else to do it for him, but the blood and filthy towels would have raised questions even if you paid them a large sum of money. Stark didn't seem like the person that would risk another knowing important information when it could be kept secret, nor did the man come off as a very trusting, despite how the idiot mortal had accepted him into his home. Perhaps JARVIS had more capabilities than the man had previously alluded to.

Studiously ignoring the pain each movement sent as the clothing rubbed roughly against each laceration, Loki moved past the couches and television to the windows beyond. As he gazed out over the city the broken god wondered why, out of all the places in the galaxy, he had fallen here.

With slow, soft steps Loki made his way to the pane glass doors and pushed. He half expected them to remain unmoved or for JARVIS to make a snide remark, but the panels slid open soundlessly and Loki stepped through without hesitation. The sounds of the city drifted upwards from the street below as Loki walked closer to the edge of the balcony, admiring the beginnings of a sunset over the skyline.

Midgard was such a fascinating place, so full of so many people and so much life; the realm was bursting with energy. For creatures with such short lives, humans had managed to come quite far. They were constantly adapting themselves or changing their environment to suit their needs, however, the lack of magic was unsettling to the god of chaos.

Long ago, when Loki and Thor were children, Odin had described to them the nine realms. Each realm had its own specialty, whether it be spell casting for the elves or metal work for the dwarves. There was always a certain degree of magic imbued into each and every being on each and every realm with the distinct exception of Midgard.

The realm of Midgard itself was odd as it was both part of the nine realms and not, a gateway between universes. From Midgard you could travel to any of the nine realms or leave the nine realms in a way that could not be done from any other realm, making it of key importance. Hence, Odin being content with Thor's recent title as Midgard's protector. The realm also housed the youngest and most ever-changing race in the entirety of the nine realms, the only race that lacked magic. Or, at least, that is what Odin had said in all of his stories. Even the books in Asgard's library corroborated the claim that Midgard lacked magic. 

Loki could easily claim the title of the most powerful mage of his time. From a young age, he had been particularly sensitive to magic, able to sense energy in his surroundings and within himself and harness it with ease. Loki's magic was unique and powerful; the first time he visited Midgard he was astonished to find that there was magic, contradicting everything he had been told. While Midgard was full of magic, life, and energy held just under the surface, that magic only occasionally leaked through. Due to his abilities, Loki was surprised when only he could feel the faint pulse of Midgard's core. As for magical humans, there were many individuals who possessed the potential core needed for magic, but it was never developed or used. The cores grew smaller as generations passed.

A conspicuous exception being Tony Stark, the eccentric man himself.

Stark's magical core could have rivaled Loki's own when he was a child and unlearned in the arcane teachings; this was a matter of significance on its own but the mortal's magic was fundamentally different. Loki's magic was naturally strong with illusions and deceptions—his title, god of lies, originating from his power—but Stark's magic appeared to be more enigmatic. The blue mass of power the mortal contained was constantly shifting and adapting, its natural strength obviously residing in creation and creativity. This type of power, especially in this quantity, was almost as rare as the roiling green power that moved beneath Loki's skin and covered his very bones. To let such potential go to waste was against all that Loki believed but to let a man whose motives remained unknown gain enough power to rival his own would be stupid and ignorant. However, so would ignoring it.

The raven-haired man stood on the ledge of the roof as the last rays of light slid beneath the horizon. He needed to determine what Stark wanted, why he was not searching for revenge. He needed to test the mortal and determine if this man was friend, foe, or merely indifferent. He needed to understand the human's mind before he could make the choice to teach Stark or not.

With this in mind, Loki turned his back to the bright night lights of New York and padded back inside. JARVIS never commented once on his foray outside nor did he notify him if Stark had returned from his meeting. After filling a glass with water, the god slowly made his way back to the nice room with the comfortable bed, noticing again how exhausted he was and how much his injuries pained him. It occurred to him as he neared the door how much more it would hurt now if Stark had not helped him but the thought was dimly pushed away for later. Soon he would be questioned, he just hoped that they were questions he would be able to answer.

When Loki reached the door it swung open soundlessly and without touch. Loki stepped inside the room with little hesitation, despite how disturbing the extent to which Jarvis could control the world around him was. If the mortal had wanted to harm him he would have done so when he had first arrived. The room was pitch black but that did nothing to faze the god of mischief and he cautiously made his way over to the large bed in the center of the room.

When Loki reached the bed he became aware of a small sound filling the emptiness of the dark room and paused. The sound was faint but Loki was sure it was there, the sound familiar but he couldn't place what it was; a small snuffling sound occasionally followed by a choked one with no noticeable pattern.

The raven-haired man slid soundlessly over the carpet floor and stopped by the right side of the bed where the sound was the strongest. As he got closer, Loki began to notice a soft blue glow similar to that of the tesseract that was muffled by the layers but still faintly visible. And then Loki knew what the sound was.

"Stark. What are you doing in my bed?"


	7. Damaged, Not Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: The universe couldn't hate him this much. Right? One person that haunted his nightmares appearing spontaneously was way enough, especially when that person is the injured god of lies, but two was just over kill. Obviously the universe had a personal vendetta against him and was determined to make him drop from exhaustion or angry ex's before the day was up.

God, why were all the people on the board so stupid? Just by looking at the data or reading the summary he had oh so generously added for those idiots they should have been able to see that the problem was not the limited options available on it but the device itself. It had taken an unbearable amount of time to convince them of the true issue and make a deadline for the new device design. After that, there was the totally unnecessary discussion over what tools, apps, and services should be added now and what should be added later when he could easily be in his workshop creating said things as they spoke. There were reasons he never went to these things unless necessary.

While the meetings lasted longer than he had initially expected, so far past mind-numbingly boring it was depressing, they were not why Tony was late getting home.

As soon as he had stepped out of SI headquarters he had yanked loose his tie—the damn thing always tried to strangle him—and stood on the sidewalk for a moment. He basked in the lack of stupid voices trying to talk his ears off like a cat sunning itself. Minutes before the car that was scheduled to pick him up and take him to his tower drove up, the unthinkable happened.

Ms. Potts appeared.

Actually, she didn't so much as appear as turn the corner and nearly run him over. Not that a woman of her size could knock him down like that, but she did turn the corner pretty fast. The first thing Tony noticed about her was that her hair was shorter, almost like a bob, and the second thing was that she was in a business suit similar to the ones she used to wear when she was his CEO. So many things were the same but so many things were different. Unfortunately, Tony still had the persistent urge to call his ex-everything Pepper. Some things just stuck.

"I'm so sor-" The apology was quickly cut off when Potts realized just who it was that she had run into. Her face immediately darkened as she stiffly stood in front of him. Tony couldn't figure out if he was happy to see her or would dearly regret this run-in. Knowing his luck it would be the latter.

"Sorry?" It was both a sincere apology and a question but it didn't seem as though Potts was willing to continue her statement.

"You should be." Tony didn't know if she meant he should be sorry for running into her or sorry for making their relationship fail. Which he hadn't. It definitely wasn't his fault for her not accepting who he was and trying to fix what wasn't broken, at least not completely. He was definitely going to regret this little run in.

While Tony was regretfully nostalgic about this run-in with Potts, the redheaded woman's reaction was on the more negative side of the spectrum. It was immediately obvious Potts was very angry with him—deduced from the rather impressive glare forming on her face—and that she blamed Tony for their meeting. It's not like Stark Industries was his company or anything; there was never a possibility of seeing each other when they were right outside of SI headquarters. Especially not when he had taken up the vacancy of CEO. God, he really should have planned for this because when was he ever lucky?

But still, the universe couldn't hate him this much. Right? One person from his nightmares appearing spontaneously was more than enough, especially when that person is the injured god of lies and chaos—two was just overkill. Obviously, the universe had a personal vendetta against him and was determined to make him drop from exhaustion or angry ex's before the day was up. Hopefully, it was the former rather than the latter as he had things at the tower that needed tending to. Very dangerous things.

For a moment they just stared at each other. Well, Potts glared at Tony while he stared at Potts and began to mentally run through a list of things that could be the reason for this encounter and how he could calm Potts down without a large sacrifice. Tony came up blank. He had been good these last few months, the model CEO ever since Potts had left—not that she likely cared much about the company since she quit when they broke up. She could have stayed his CEO but no, she couldn't stand to see his face at all. Maybe simply seeing him again was the cause of all of Potts' anger. It was possible, if not probable. Wow, his life sucked.

Out of nowhere, and coincidentally right when Tony was planning on backing away slowly, possibly with his hands raised in surrender, Potts broke the tension-filled silence but not the tension. That she only kicked up a notch with her abrupt announcement of, "I'm getting married." The "and you are not invited" was silently acknowledged by both people present.

"To whom?" It wasn't that Tony necessarily cared about Potts still—he did care but he would never admit that to anyone, maybe not even himself—but it seemed like the right thing to say. It was polite to ask and, even with his track record going against him, he was capable of being nice even if Potts didn't think so. Setting aside social platitudes, it had only been three months since their split. Now the woman was getting married? Obviously, something had been going on behind his back for a while.

"Mr. Stone," Potts answered succinctly while the glare on Potts', soon to be Mrs. Stone's, face lessened from lethal to severely damaging. Potts must really like the guy if just the thought of him could make her glare dial down.

The name Stone sounded vaguely familiar but Tony could not remember who the guy was. For a second Tony considered looking the guy up or getting JARVIS to look into it but he didn't care, or at least told himself he didn't.

What Tony was most concerned with at the moment was getting away. If pretending could get him away quicker then he would take that out. "Great guy," Tony said evasively. He wondered when the car he had requested would show up because he wanted to leave yesterday.

"Yes, he is," Potts snapped. "A much better man than you are." The scary thing was how she smiled faintly at her last comment. While the statement was not unexpected and Tony was used to letting such things bounce off of his metaphorical armor, it stung coming from Potts. For so many years she had stood by his side and seen through all of his stupid bullshit. She had been there through the drunkenness before Afghanistan, the chaos after Afghanistan; through Stane's betrayal, through the palladium poisoning, through the Mandarin attacks. It was odd that after everything, after every horrible event that had happened to them, the one thing she had never been able to deal with was Iron Man. But Tony was Iron Man, Iron Man was Tony.

Tony wished he could say that they had parted on amicable terms all those months ago but that would be a lie. Through the weeks that preceded Potts' abrupt departure Tony had known, somewhere in the back of his mind, that Potts would leave. What he hadn't accounted for was just how she would do it. The scenario Tony had hoped for was Potts calmly saying she was leaving and walking out the door but Potts was a woman of fire and ice so of course, it could never happen that way. Tony still wished it had.

Near the end, Potts stopped trying to understand Tony's way of coping with nightmares and had begun sleeping in a different bed to avoid being woken by his thrashing. As recompense, Tony began to spend more time in the labs than Potts thought he needed to, building improved versions of the armor Potts thought were gone for good. Tony had known that she would be disappointed in him but his mind needed something to do and he wanted—needed—the protection the armor gave. Another Mandarin and no armor would be very, very bad. Potts would understand and they would be fine. That was a month before she left.

About a week before Potts left him and the company for good she figured out about the armor and spent a good hour venting her rage in a fury fueled rant about how he needed to be fixed, that Iron Man was an obsession, how he needed to be less selfish. After explaining that they were for protection purposes only she quieted down some. It wasn't the armor that broke her but the reactor.

Such a small, powerful device that could revolutionize the world of clean energy or turn into the energy source of the next generation of weapons. Tony was actively against the latter and working towards the former. Unknown to Potts, he had created the most efficient reactor to date. It was smaller, slimmer, and ran on Vibranium, the element his dad had discovered and he had synthesized. This new reactor fit perfectly in the smaller hole left by the surgery to remove the shrapnel.

Yes, he knew that the arc reactor was no longer needed to keep him alive but it had its uses. It was the suits last-ditch backup plan, it was a comfortable weight that filled the hole in his chest, and it was the best nightlight ever. For weeks he had wrapped a cloth around the reactor when he was around Potts to dampen its glow. After she had calmed down about the suits Tony thought that it was only logical to show her the new reactor. That plan crashed and burned before it even left the ground.

Potts took one look at the new reactor and flipped. She claimed that he was holding onto his painful past and the memory of the man that had died for him, cruelty using the memory of Yinsen—a story he had told her in confidence—against him. In her mind, Tony could have done the same thing Potts had done before and made a little memorial of the reactor in a glass case as a tribute to Yinsen's death. When he pointed out how biased that opinion was, Potts ignored him. She was CEO so she had to be right. In that moment Tony had been really tempted to fire her, an urge that only grew stronger when she began to use all that he had told her in confidence against him.

Everything from his childhood, to Iron Man, to Captain America, to his father. She insulted him, goaded him, beat him down and tried in her own way to build him up in a way that fit her own mold. She left when her way didn't work.

In hindsight, she had been too controlling and too anti-Iron Man for anything to ever work between them. She really should have known that when he activated the Clean Slate protocol he wasn't destroying all of the suits. He could never blow up Mark I or Mark II or Mark III because there were too many memories attached to them. Each suite had it's own unique spin did but those were the first. The first suit, the first improved suit, and the first Iron Man suit with the classic red and gold could never be replaced. Tony was really lucky they hadn't fallen into the sea with the rest if his house when the Mandarin had attacked. Granted, they were a little scorched but otherwise perfectly fine.

Despite knowing that they would never have worked as a couple, the years before that proved they could work together in some form and even be friends. Potts was a good CEO and Tony really hated all of the paperwork and meetings required for the job, even though they had broken up he would have let her remain CEO. When she quit Tony stepped up and, despite Potts leaving so abruptly, he was doing great. They were calling him the best CEO Stark Industries had seen, the stocks higher than ever and his PR department happier than ever. He was so busy with his new status as CEO that he caused fewer scenes in public and when he drank he did in the safety of the tower penthouse. Most of the time.

The improvement to his public image, the insane amounts of paperwork, along with being Iron Man and improving his suits, made him so exhausted that most nights he didn't dream—a minor miracle. Tony just wished it had taken something a little less painful than Potts leaving him to get to this point. Soon he one of the few people he used to call friend would be married to some Mr. Stone and Tony would likely never see her again.

Potts' obviously didn't feel even remotely the same, her glare returning in full force. "I am so happy I left when I did because now I have a man that isn't broken, that doesn't pretend to be something he isn't," said before she calmly walked away. It amazed Tony that Potts could walk away with such ease, like hadn't just dug up all of the painful memories of her leaving and thrown them back in my face. Thankfully Tony was saved by the car pulling up, right on time. Why could they have been early for once?

The ride home was a blur, as was the elevator ride to the penthouse and the walk to the bedroom. The same bedroom that Tony and Potts used to share. The same room that Tony had left Loki in but the chaos god didn't even cross Tony's mind. He was too wrapped in his own head to remember that he had left the injured god here much less question where said god was, that would be too much to ask even for a genius.

Stane and Potts: two people that had been close to him for years, two people that had hurt him, hated him and nearly killed him. The list of people he could call friends now was half of what it had been before Afghanistan. All that was left was Rhodey—who he rarely saw anymore—and JARVIS because his AI he had as much of a personality as anyone Tony had ever met.

After what had happened with Stane, Tony had promised himself that it would never happen again; he would never allow himself to be so close to someone that they could devastate him if they left. He had refused to add on to the alarmingly short list of friends, instead, he only shared with the people that he had. Rhodey was his only flesh and blood human friend left but they had grown apart since Tony no longer made weapons for the military and his friend was kept busy working as Iron Patriot.

Around Potts he had taken his masks off, the ones that shielded his thoughts and emotions, and shown her the real him underneath in the hopes that the real him was what she had fallen in love with. He was hoped Potts could see through the masks but he could not have been more wrong. Unfortunately, she had fallen in love with the masks and wanted to make one of her own design, even if she didn't know it herself. She had wanted to fix him but he wasn't broken, simply damaged.

Stane had ripped out his arc reactor, had tried to have him killed multiple times, had inadvertently gotten him tortured and yet Potts leaving still hurt worse than the old man's betrayal. Pepper had been closer, she had been his crutch and a good comfort in hard times, and she acted like she understood and cared. It was clear now that any remnants of their relationship were gone and it was like a knife to his heart. At least some good came out of both departures, Iron Man and a better perspective of the world from Stane and SI to himself from Potts.

Still in his suit from the meetings, Tony collapsed face down on the bed and resisted the urge to curl up into a ball and cry. Silent tears slipped down Tony's face but he remained still and made as little sound as possible. Pepper had been so sweet and kind and had seemed so perfect, but now she had left him for another. She was gone for good, taking her warmth and understanding with her. On the upside, now he had fewer friends to worry about leaving him.

The thought brought a watery smile to Tony's face before it quickly fell. God, his life was depressing. He had so few connections to this world. Other than Rhodey and maybe Bruce, if he ever came back, there would be no other human beings that would truly mourn him when he was gone. He had been so close to giving up when he had been dying from palladium poisoning but Potts had brought him back then. Now she was gone and Rhodey was rarely around. Tony would bet that if he put the old reactor back in and died of palladium poisoning that there would be no one to stop him in time. More tears traced their watery paths down Tony's cheeks.

The crushing feeling of loneliness forced a choked sob from him, the sound so soft that it was near inaudible. To Tony, it filled up the entire room with his crushed hopes, dreams, and lost love. He had loved Pepper and now she hated him for being himself. Tony drowned in his thoughts, barely aware of the occasional sob that broke through his facade of silence and even less aware of the door to the bedroom silently opening and closing. He never saw the slim figure that made its way over to his bedside.

"Stark. What are you doing in my bed?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 19, 2018


	8. The Heart Of The Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: The laughter was not one of mirth or joy but one of self depreciation, laughter of ironic circumstances, a laugh that silently asked what would the world throw at him next and the understanding that whatever it was he would get through it.

_"Stark. What are you doing in my bed?"_

o~*+*~o

Loki had been expecting one of three things when he announced himself to the oblivious and distraught Stark.

One was anger.

Two was sadness.

Three was indifference.

Personally, Loki believed that anger was most likely because, even though he did not know if Stark still considered him an enemy, it was unlikely a powerful man by mortal standards would like it for someone to witness him brought down. What Loki had not accounted for was what had happened to cause this incident in the first place or just how odd the mortal's mind worked. In retrospect, laughter was not too unreasonable a reaction and when considering the human's rather eccentric nature it became almost obvious.

Stark's head jerked upright when Loki spoke, the man quickly turning to face him. Once Stark was facing him, Loki noticed a soft blue light filling the room and illuminating Stark's face. The light on the man's shirt was just bright enough for Loki to make out the slight tear tracks and red-rimmed eyes, evidence of the mortal's sorrow. It all was a sharp contrast to the small smirk on Stark's lips and the following laughter that burst from the man in a short bark.

The laughter was not one of mirth or joy but one of self-depreciation, laughter of ironic circumstances. It was a laugh that silently dared the world throw its worst at him again because he would make it through. The depth in those red-rimmed eyes spoke of a strength tempered by pain, the eyes of a survivor. 

"Hi Lokes, I forgot you were here," Tony said with false cheer and a broken smile.

Loki didn't quite know how to respond. After all, he had once been this man's enemy; was he really so easy to forget? Loki supposed it would be possible with the short attention span of humans, even a genius level one could forget; Thor's friends and the people of Asgard had seemed to find it easy enough. As if in answer to his thoughts, Stark spoke up again. "Not that you are a very forgettable person. Who could ever forget the person who took over your tower and threw you out a window, but you would never believe the day I've had." This comment earned Stark a raised eyebrow and a condescending look. After all, Loki was still injured, not to bad for him but with his magic depleted it was a problem, and this mortal fool was taking up half of the bed.

Both Stark and Loki stared down each other, neither giving any ground, before Stark broke the slightly awkward silence; the man truly could not stay silent for lengthy amounts of time. "Technically, in answer to your question, I own the entire tower and therefore this room and all of the furniture inside including the bed. So the bed is technically mine but I am more than willing to share." Stark smirked at his last comment solidifying Loki's original opinion that the mortal was likely joking.

Nevertheless, the injured god slowly made his way over to the opposite side of the bed on slightly unsteady feet before dropping himself down on the edge furthest away from the sprawled man beside him. It occurred to Loki that it might not have been the smartest thing to stand up for long periods of time with his bruised, cracked, and broken ribs along with many contusions. The bed sank under his weight and enveloped him in its softness without exerting pressure on his damaged body, a miracle given the myriad of bruises and lashes covering his back that had not quite healed yet.

All thoughts about arguing with Stark about possession of this very nice bed, almost nicer than his one on Asgard, dissipated as he sank comfortably under the sheets and let himself consciously relax for the first time since he had awoken in the unfamiliar room. Loki's eyes slid shut in contentment which, surprisingly, did not disappear when Stark began to speak again. The mortal loved the sound of his own voice far too much but at the moment the injured god could not bring himself to tell the other man to be quiet.

Stark's voice was strangely hypnotic, almost comforting, and Loki was content to lay back and let Stark's words blend into a blur of sound. Even though he was not concentrating very much, Loki eventually figured out that Stark was explaining what had happened today that had made him so upset. The incident seemed focused around a woman that Stark called Pepper, the name spoken fondly, but the man corrected himself after a couple of times, referring to Ms. Potts or Mrs. Stone with a sort of self-loathing each time.

A man named Obadiah was mentioned once or twice in comparison to Ms. Potts but the thing that caught Loki's attention and caused him to listen with interest was Stark's commented that "at least she didn't literally yank his heart out, she only stabbed it metaphorically". How a mortal could survive without their heart for any amount of time was a mystery to Loki but each time the raven-haired man began to ask his question it turned out Stark's pause was merely to take a breath. It was only when the man began to reminisce about Ms. Potts again, becoming lost in his memories and slowly falling silent, that Loki found a space to put his words.

"How did you survive without your heart?" The words were slightly rushed as Loki was not eager to have his words spoken over and ignored in favor of the mortal's speech. It was fortunate he did as Stark had just opened his mouth to speak when Loki began but the other man graciously refrained from speaking until after the raven-haired man had asked his question.

"Didn't you ever learn that it is rude to interrupt people, Lokes?" Stark said in an irritated tone but his face showed that he wasn't truly angry. Loki dismissed the idea of asking about the odd nickname in favor of getting answers. After a moment of consideration, the mortal said, "I will answer your question if you answer one of mine." A bargain, this mortal might actually be clever. 

"You have a deal," Loki agreed with a smirk. It really wasn't that much of a risk to let the mortal ask any question he wanted. After all, the other man giving away how he lived without a heart so the injured god was definitely getting the better end of the bargain. The sound of rustling cloth and a sudden light in the room made Loki turn towards Stark and stare in confusion.

In the back of his head, Loki realized that the sound of cloth had been Stark removing his shirt but that was unnecessary information when Loki was entranced by the small, bright circle. What Loki had originally thought was a lamp turning on was actually a strange blue light that shone from Stark's chest, right where the human's shirt had been glowing earlier. The color was similar to the tesseract, not exactly pleasant memories for the god, but was brighter. It was almost like a star in the mortal's chest. It was strangely beautiful and Loki unconsciously moved closer to get a better view only to stop when Stark raised his hands as if to push Loki away.

"This here," Stark tapped the glowing spot and a quiet metallic click could be heard, "is arguably my greatest invention ever and is, for all intents and purposes, my heart. This device is a miniaturized arc reactor and it fuels the Iron Man suits and my own heart. After a few minutes without it my heart would be shredded and I would die." The mortal's face was oddly calm for a man who was telling Loki, who used to be his enemy, the best way to kill him. What a stupid fool. 

"Or at least it used to," Stark corrected blithely. "There were pieces of shrapnel in my chest trying every minute to worm their way into my heart. A couple of months ago I had surgery to remove most of it but there were a few pieces that are lodge in the walls of my heart that they couldn't get to without doing more damage. Hopefully, the scar tissue would hold them in place if the arc reactor is ever removed but I don't plan on letting that happen again so it should never be tested." Maybe the human wasn't as much of an idiot as the man lead others to believe.

Loki sat quietly as Stark continued his explanation. "This is my fourth version of the miniaturized arc reactor and I managed to significantly reduce the casing size so it no longer goes as deep or is as wide. The improvements are good because the scar tissue from the surgery fills the empty space and allows it to heal better. I think. I'm not that type of doctor."

While the majority of the information was foreign for a god that possessed magic, Loki understood that this miniature arc reactor was a significant construct and was powerful enough to simultaneously power one's heart and the Iron Man suit. For a moment, the raven-haired man wished he had done more research before his previous visit to Earth, even though that would have been impossible.

Thanos and the Other didn't care about research or planning because what they did they did through power, force, and manipulation. Even though Thanos had controlled his mind he could not control Loki's magic, practically another entity on its own. The plan had ultimately failed because of the lack of planning and the tesseract was taken to Asgard. If Loki had done it on his own—not that he would because some of the Avengers were almost worthy opponents—he would have wanted as much information as he could so he would not have to fight directly often but from the shadows, his second home.

More information on Tony Stark would be very helpful now as he would likely be occupying the mortal's tower until he was healed or his magic returned. Preferably both because, for now, Loki had no way to defend himself other than his extensive hand-to-hand combat training, which was useless against the Iron Man suit, and his own mind.

For once the trickster god was unsure who would be the victor in a battle of wits and knowledge. Loki knew that he definitely had the advantage of experience from the thousand odd years he had lived, all the while accumulating knowledge of the nine realms and magic. Compared to Stark's less than fifty years of life, Loki was as wise as he was ancient. Unfortunately, Loki had little to no information about the realm he was stuck in right now and Stark was not a complete idle minded fool. The human had more information and resources on Midgard that he could ever hope to amass, especially considering his last visit.

"And since I know you haven't heard a word I've said over the last minute I'm just going to ask my question now."

The statement broke through Loki's musings and reminded him that, yes, he was laying in bed next to a shirtless Tony Stark who had been talking the entire time he had been thinking. It used to happen often, Thor or one of his witless friends would speak simply to hear their own voice and Loki would tune them out like he had just done to the mortal beside him. What was surprising was how Stark had recognized his carefully formed mask of polite understanding for what it was, a mask to hide his thoughts while he ignored the speaker to listen to his own opinions and ideas.

Now with his attention truly on Stark, Loki patiently waited for the coming question in silence. It seems like the correct response as the mortal only waited a beat before asking his question. For all of the evidence that Stark was an idiot who didn't understand what was important to people, Loki was quickly proved wrong when Stark was asked a question Loki never though the mortal would ask.

"Do you really look like a giant, blue Smurf in your natural Jötun form?"

This mortal was far too clever for his own good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 20, 2018


	9. Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: The tower was not intended to be a cage and Tony did not necessarily want to imprison Loki for crimes the genius suspected were not consciously committed.

_"Do you really look like a giant, blue Smurf in your natural Jötun form?"_

_This mortal was far too clever for his own good._

o~*+*~o

Right after he asked his question Tony knew it was either the smartest thing he'd ever done or the stupidest.

Loki's expression quickly circulated through shock, rage, and sadness before the injured god mastered himself and let a blank mask slide on. The only thing that didn't change was the glowing emerald eyes that just barely hinted at the emotions roiling under the surface. It was clear from Loki's reaction that some of the stories Thor had told him were not exaggeration, but fact. For once the thunderer's glorious tales of gloriousness gave Tony an edge. 

It was only fair Tony ask such a personal question after revealing so much about his own horrible personal life, even if Tony was sure Loki had only been half listening. Besides, focusing on Reindeer Games' problems did wonders for his own self-esteem. If what Thor said was true, Loki had gone mad over something as simple as adoption. The real freak-out worthy thing was the different species issue but Tony would have guessed that in a realm like Asgard that would be less of an issue. 

Despite their differences, there were some things Tony could relate to. Even when Tony had believed Loki was the enemy, Tony had wanted to punch Thor in the face when he heard Loki had been ridiculed for his magic and intelligence. Tony had been the smartest kid in the room anywhere he went and it seemed Loki was the same. When Tony looked at Loki he saw someone with a sharp and hungry mind like his own. It was that brand of intelligence that led to the game that Tony and Loki were now playing. With a guaranteed answer, Tony had been so tempted to ask bout Loki's magic but that would have been too easy; if Tony could think of a way to weasel out of answering the question then it had to be even easier for the god of mischief and lies.

The game was all about give and take. Loki's question didn't hold the same risk that it used to, even if it struck at the heart of him and exhumed some particularly painful memories. It was only natural Tony ask something that couldn't be used against Loki but was still useful information. If Tony had asked about magic it would have broken the trust that was budding and upset the balance of the game. Maybe one day they would have enough trust to debate the similarities and differences between technology and magic but it was unlikely. Both Loki and Tony had bad track records, neither quick to trust or forget. Tony had JARVIS constantly watching Loki for both of their safety. The god was severely injured by Earth standards and JARVIS could monitor Loki with ease while he was in the tower.

However, the tower was never intended to be a cage and Tony did not want to imprison Loki for crimes Tony suspected were not consciously committed. The severe injuries the god had received told Tony Loki had more than paid for whatever crimes he had committed. While Tony didn't want to make Loki stay against his will, Tony did want a chance to study the other man and hopefully figure out just how Loki and his magic worked. Tony was of the belief that the magic Loki possessed was merely an advanced form of science and Tony wanted answers. Loki had the knowledge to fill in the gaps that Earth findings couldn't and he seemed intelligent enough to hold a real conversation with him, a rare thing.

Tony had been so hopeful Bruce Banner would stay after the Battle of Manhattan but his high hopes had been subsequently dashed when the other scientist's fear of losing control led to him going back into hiding. Tony told himself it didn't really matter, that he still had JARVIS to keep him company and remind him to do silly things like eat and sleep.

Loneliness was a constant in Tony's life. He was a genius among geniuses and that was bad enough so Tony could not imagine what it must have been like for Loki, a genius among idiots, for hundreds of years. The loss of Ms. Potts meant there was no one for Tony to talk to, laugh with, and hold when times were tough. Tony was human and human contact was nice. Loki was closer right now than Potts had been the last few weeks.

After a minute of silence, it quickly became evident that Loki was not planning on talking anytime soon.

"Thor was heartbroken after you 'died' for him so when he came back to Earth he told tales of your many achievements and failures," Tony explained with a quick wave of a limp hand.

"Basically, he told us your life story. I think I was the only one who really got that if you could do all of the crazy stuff Thor talked about when you were just a kid it really wouldn't be all that hard to fake being dead when you have so much experience. I think I was also the only one who found it odd that you didn't use any magic during your previous, uh, visit to Earth."

Still silence.

"You know, you did promise to answer any question I asked if I answered yours. What's so bad about being a giant smurf anyways?"

When Thor had tried to explain it, Tony was almost positive that the thunder god was hiding some important details because being a different species alone did not make someone go as batshit crazy as Loki did. The realm of Asgard was used to other species, it was a common thing, so there must be something about the Jötun race specifically that was bad.

"They are monsters." The whisper sounded like it had been ripped from the injured god's throat.

"How can an entire race of people be monsters?"

"They just are!"

Loki took a deep breath before beginning again, the raven-haired man's voice holding the same intensity as before in an incredibly soft volume.

"I grew up hearing about the atrocities that the Jötun committed, how they were vicious and merciless and pitiless creatures. They were the monsters under the bed that I feared as a young child, the pests to be exterminated as Thor and I grew older.

"One day, incidentally the day Thor was supposed to be crowned as the next ruler of Asgard, Frost Giants invaded the vaults and attempted to steal the Casket of Winters. Thor, in his anger, decided that the best way to prevent this from ever happening was too kill all of the Frost Giants once and for all." Loki glanced over at Tony and gave him a look. "Going to the Frost Giant's realm and attacking them was forbidden and doing so would break the fragile peace that had held for hundreds of years." 

"I attempted to dissuade Thor from his path but he took the attempted theft as a personal insult. It was while we were in the Frost Giant's realm when one of the beasts grabbed my arm, a terrible injury for anyone of Asgardian descent. Frost Giants are so cold that their touch causes severe frostbite. Instead of being injured my arm began to turn as blue as the monster who had touched me.

"Once his hand left my arm it returned to what I have previously considered to be its natural color. No one but me saw what happened and I killed the Jötun who touched me. Soon after, everyone who had foolishly followed Thor on this escapade was rescued by the Allfather. Thor was punished for his actions, banishment to Midgard without his powers until he was deemed worthy, while I went to confront the Allfather about what had happened."

"I had gone down to the vault that held the Casket of Winters to test myself, the casket's cold reminiscent to the Frost Giant's own. I hoped that what had happened on Jötunheim was a mistake, a glamour, anything but what was true. When I touched the Casket I held on for longer and knew that the blue was spreading over my entire body. It was the ultimate betrayal, my entire life a lie. The Allfather came in and tried to explain why this was happening but fell into Odinsleep before a sufficient answer could be produced."

While Loki continued to rant and mourn his lack of answers and the rather ironic timing of the Allfather's fall into Odinsleep, Tony couldn't help but draw the similarities between this Allfather person and Stane.

Both were father figures; both had lied, schemed, and kept large, dangerous secrets that eventually became their downfall. The only big difference between Loki's story and his own was that while Tony brought upon Stane's downfall and death, Loki had inadvertently brought upon his own downfall in what seemed like an attempted suicide. What else would you call deliberately falling off the rainbow bridge of magic into the void of endless space below?

It wasn't until Loki cut himself off, rather abruptly, in the middle of his monologue that Tony registered what the injured god had been saying. Something about the rainbow bridge, the Chitauri, the tesseract and the Other?

"So you don't remember anything from your previous visit here?" Barton had remembered what he had done under the tesseracts control but, if Tony had to guess, it took a lot more power to control a god that possessed magic than a mortal with a bow and arrow.

"I could only remember bits and pieces but, ever since I landed here, memories have begun to return. Before now the only memories I had of my crimes were from after the green beast crushed my body and the tesseract's hold was weakened enough for me to regain consciousness," Loki mused softly. Tony waited for the raven-haired man to continue but when the silence persisted Tony felt the need to break it once again.

Silence was never a good thing in Tony's mind. Silence was anger, sadness, fear, pain, emptiness and the Void. He had no good memories of silence and likely never would. There was a reason he always had music on or had JARVIS talking or would be talking himself when a room was quiet. Even the slightest background sound was helpful but when you had the man who you previously considered your worst enemy—someone with a connection to the number one cause of panic attacks—sitting right next to you, the silence needed more push to break. So Tony pushed.

"Just to verify, the answer to my question is yes. You do turn blue in extremely cold temperatures, right?" The glare he got in return could have frozen the sun but Tony Stark, the businessman, was accustomed to these looks so it slid right off of him. The icy stare was quickly retaliated by a cheeky grin and then Loki just stopped.

The injured god straightened his back and tensed, as if expecting a blow, before locking eyes with Tony and said in all seriousness, without any trace of animosity, "Yes, Stark. This skin is not my true one. I am naturally a blue-skinned and red-eyed monster."

"Would you show me?"

Loki immediately opened his mouth to speak before quickly closing it, staring at Tony with almost open incredulity. "Why would you want to see it?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "You're like the real-life Avatar, why would I not want to see it?" There was a broken moment where Tony lay, waiting for the answer, and got comfortable under the covers. The last couple of days were catching up to him, not only because he had barely slept in that time. He had answers and his answer was a god sitting on his bed. The thought was surprisingly non-threatening but that was probably the sleep deprivation talking.

Tony had almost managed to doze off when he heard Loki whisper, "No. I can not show you my other form as I lack the energy to shield my use of magic and I would be unable to change back." Tony smiled and closed his eyes and he relaxed further into the mattress.

"I guess I'll just have to wait till your powers come back." Just when he was falling asleep, Tony was woken abruptly by a quick flick to the forehead. Not enough to hurt but definitely more than irritating; this evil man was depriving him of sleep. "What was that for?" Tony mumbled, refusing open his eyes and turning away from Loki so he wouldn't be hit on his face again.

"Go sleep in your own bed." Loki didn't sound too angry, despite the scowl, so Tony thought that he could probably get away with sleeping here, not that Tony planned on moving anytime soon.

"I've gone over this. My tower, my money, my bed."

"Technically, sir, you did place-"

"No! JARVIS don't-"

"Loki is in the room so it could be viewed either way."

"Betrayer." Still without opening his eyes, Tony got comfortable again and lazily waved off both JARVIS and Loki's argument. "Goodnight Rudolph."

"Rudolph?"

Tony fell asleep smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 20, 2018


	10. Sound Asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt: It was interesting to hear about how this race was made up of multiple groups of people that were lead by different figures and how none of them were connected. It was all so different than any other way of life on any of the other realms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, school is starting up and my free time wrenched away from me. Not that I'm going to stop writing though. I hope everyone enjoys!

"Rudolph?"

Tony fell asleep smiling.

o~*+*~o

Loki glanced over at the mortal who was, for once, not rambling aimlessly. It wasn't all that surprising Stark had fallen asleep in this bed even after Loki had told him to go to his own room but it was strange how the other man was so relaxed next to him—there was even a small smile curling the ends of the mortal's lips upward.

The human seemed to be a restless sleeper, gravitating naturally to the center of the bed. It was a gradual process and the intermittent rustling of sheets was only audible when silence reigned in the room. Though it was very late by Midgard standards, Loki was wide awake and passed the time by speaking to JARVIS, a fantastic wealth of information.

JARVIS had kindly explained to him that Rudolph was a flying reindeer that had a glowing red nose and saved a special Midgard event called Christmas but Loki still could not fathom why Stark would call him that. He did not have any of the attributes that the odd deer did.

"Why Rudolph?"

"I believe Sir was referencing the horns on your helmet that you wore during your previous visit to Earth. While they did not resemble antlers, they were close enough for the analogy to be distinguishable," JARVIS answered from his many speakers. It was strangely calming to be able to sit back and listen to JARVIS, to be able to relax after all this time.

For a while, Loki simply asked whatever came to his mind: when had Stark created JARVIS, why JARVIS was named JARVIS, what damage he had caused during the invasion and what they had done in the recovery. JARVIS outright refused to answer some of Loki's more pointed questions and the god of lies suspected that JARVIS' answer on his name's origin was false. Even Stark was not eccentric enough to have JARVIS be an acronym for Just A Really Very Intelligent System.

Despite the omissions, Loki learned a lot about the realm he was now stuck in. It was interesting to hear about the multiple groups of people scattered over the planet that were lead by different figures and how none of them were connected. It was all so different than any other way of life on any of the other realms. 

Human lives were so short but they accomplished so many amazing feats in the short time they had available. They had successfully learned how to manipulate the world around them without the use of magic, a feat that not even Asgard could rival. There was also the fact that there were more than 7 billion people living in this one realm and that number was steadily increasing.

On Asgard, or any of the other magical realms, the inhabitants were near invincible and lived for thousands of years. The side effect was that few children were born and things rarely changed. Midgard, on the other hand, was full of life and death, creation and destruction, and an abundance of innovations. There was beauty in the chaos of Midgard, a realm permeated with the darkness of crimes and wars and rebellions but the dark was overshadowed by the light of peace and innovation and the sheer magnitude of life.

Loki supposed it was because of the constant changing of Midgard that the inhabitants of the realm were so open-minded. It probably helped that they had never really come into contact with any of the other magic filled realms, but it was completely different from anything else he had grown up hearing. On Midgard, they had myths and tales of creatures and monsters that everyone was told from an early age were not real when in reality they existed in another realm that would likely never come in contact with theirs.

Despite knowing that this was the way humans lived their lives, the injured god was still reeling from Stark's reaction to hearing about his true race and form. Surely when Thor had told the stories he had mentioned how savage and merciless the Jötun race was, if only to make the battles all the more heroic for himself. Even after Loki himself had admitted to his heritage the mortal had only requested that he be shown what Loki really looked like.

Loki was tempted to show Stark his true form to add evidence to his story and to scare the seemingly suicidal hero. After all, only someone who had a death wish would welcome a monster like himself into their home, especially knowing what he was and what he could do. Stark was perceptive, he should recognize his situation and do something yet he didn't. The man also seemed to be quite manipulative in his own way, using humor to cover up both his failures and distract from his accomplishments. The human's skill was so great that he was literally seen as two separate people, Iron Man and Tony Stark. Yet, beyond the normal masks to hide emotions, Tony didn't seem to be trying to manipulate him.

A small part of Loki wanted to hide from this surprisingly perceptive man and keep the most vulnerable part of himself hidden. But Stark had shown him his arc reactor, a device thats true importance escaped him, a device that held personal meaning to the mortal. A device that had kept Stark alive, became his heart and the most vulnerable part of him. A part of Stark that the mortal had, for reasons strange and unknown, shared with him.

It was almost as if it were a challenge.

But that was highly unlikely. It was possible that the mortal had simply been rambling and truly didn't believe that Loki would or did listen to his tale about having the construct that functioned as his heart ripped out of his chest by the man he had considered father. It was possible that the human simply didn't care if Loki heard or not. The only flaw in that theory was that Stark was too intelligent to give away something like that by accident. If Stark was anything like himself, and Loki was starting to think he might be, the human genius would never reveal anything to a being that could be considered hostile. Yes, the man could talk the entire day away but there was something more in his soliloquy than initially perceived.

The things the human had spoken about were defining moments in the man's life, the people that had changed him and the innovation that changed everything. While Stark had neglected to elaborate on any of the details, the man had mentioned, in a somewhat gloating fashion, that Stane had been unable to do with SI's best scientists what Stark himself had been able to do while dying in a cave with scraps.

It was easy to assume that Stark had not been in that cave under the most optimum circumstances, the scars around the reactor that was now in Stark's chest were testament to that but Loki was sure it was worse than it looked. He knew better than most that not all pain left visible scars. Loki had asked JARVIS to elaborate on the circumstances of the capture but found out very little. JARVIS would show him the things that were played on the news but those were the same as the media in any realm; full of opinions and scarce in facts.

Suddenly, Loki was startled out of his musings by a warm hand grasping his arm. The injured god couldn't hide the flinch the action caused but luckily Stark was not conscious to see it. Looking down at Stark it was obvious that the mortal was still asleep and had only thrown an arm over him out of restlessness. Why the mortal would have the compulsion to move towards and not away from him, however subconsciously, was completely beyond Loki.

What was even stranger was how, gradually, Stark squirmed ever closer until he was laying right next to him, almost wrapped around him Loki and the faint creases on the mortal's face eased as the man sank into a deeper, more peaceful sleep. For some reason, Loki found a small smile gracing his lips, pleased that this eccentric man had let him into his home. The injured god tried to remove Stark from him but the man only gripped tighter with a surprising strength that irritated Loki's healing wounds while whispering quietly, "please don't leave," over and over. Loki knew the words weren't meant for him but, after hearing that, Loki relaxed into the hold all the same. It only made sense to stay still and try to get some sleep.

Soon, Loki found himself dozing off as he relaxed in delicious warmth that the mortal seemed to radiate. It was likely unhealthy for the human to be so warm but Loki could not find it in himself to care. Right now the heat felt so wonderful, so relaxing, that the injured god found he could hardly resist moving closer to the warmth that just so happened to be Tony Stark.

The comforting feeling that the warmth created was reminiscent to what Loki used to feel when his mother held him as a young child. Strange as it was, Loki could draw many connections between his now deceased mother and Stark. Both had helped and healing and comforted and given warmth. Both were safe. Both had secrets.

Loki shoved the comparison into a back corner of his mind. As long as he didn't think Stark was safe he couldn't get his hopes up and his chances of being tricked decreased. Stark was not trustworthy or safe. Loki decided to ignore the treacherous voice in his head that said that Stark wasn't safe yet as he drifted off to sleep.

So what if the two gravitated towards each other in their sleep, Stark seeking the coolness and Loki the warmth, and they ended up wrapped around each other.

They both slept soundly for the first time in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 20, 2018


	11. New Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone actually bother reading these? If you do then please tell me so I can put something actually informative here. If not then enjoy the story!

_So what if the two had gravitated towards each other in their sleep, Stark seeking the coolness and Loki the warmth, and they ended up wrapped around each other._

_They both slept soundly for the first time in years._

o~*+*~o

Awareness came to Tony slowly.

Very slowly.

The first thing that actually registered was that, for the first time in possibly forever, he was comfortably cool in bed. Normally he would be soaked with sweat from sleeping under the covers all night, sometimes from nightmares and sometimes from the heat of the arc reactor, but not this time. With the comforting fog of sleep still enveloping him mind this oddity didn't really register as strange, only as a very good thing that should not be questioned.

Tony grabbed at the blessed coolness and moved closer to it, trying to bring the cold inside of him. It was so nice to not be burning on the inside after such an eventful day. It wasn't as bad as it used to be as the arc reactor had been modified multiple times so it gave off far less heat than before but it still warmed his blood by a couple unhealthy degrees at the very least. The crux of the problem was that his body now depended on the warmth of the reactor and had partially adapted to the heat so that it would be impossible to completely remove the heat source lodged deep in his chest without needing to take a very long, possibly permanent, leave.

Because of his body's dependency, any coolant system needed to be capable of modulating itself or be external. Just lowering the ambient temperature in the room didn't solve all the problems and when it was cold enough to be comfortable for him any guests he had would be freezing. What Tony really needed was a ring or casing that went around the reactor and cooled the skin around it to the perfect temperature without freezing the rest of him. Something like the wonderful cold that was so close to him now but on the inside.

Tony never wanted to wake up because that would mean leaving the coolness that surrounded him.

As Tony struggled to retain the final dregs of a good night's sleep, he realized that the cold was moving and speaking. Suddenly, Tony wanted to wake up a lot more. It was a lazy fight against the dense fog of sleep that Tony undertook but he gradually became more aware and alert. Then, like a switch flipped, the vague sense of what should be coalesced into actual memories with startling vivacity.

Tony's eyes snapped open to lock with the brilliant green orbs above him, the sight oddly clear for just waking up. It was curious that Loki hadn't moved and found another place to sleep instead of staying with him but the inventor was grateful because the god's lower core temperature was the perfect cure for arc reactor heat and nightmares. Which made sense because most of his nightmares involved the desert.

For a moment neither of them moved, both mortal and god simply staring at each other before Tony realized the position they were in. Sometime during the night, he must have moved towards the coolness that Loki seemed to radiate and had unconsciously tried to wrap himself around it to keep cool. The result was Tony with his arms wrapped around Loki's waist, his head on the god's chest, and his legs intertwined with the other mans. The funny thing was that Loki had his arms wrapped around Tony as well.

It was because of those arms around him and the fact that Loki hadn't run by now that made Tony move closer, resting his head against the cool chest and closing his eyes again with a smile. After all, why would he move away now when he was comfortable?

"Did you know," Tony mumbled lazily, "that you make a fantastic pillow?" By the pause afterward, it was obvious that Loki did not, in fact, know that he made a fantastic pillow. "Well, you do."

"Thank you?" The uncertain reply almost made Tony laugh but when he opened his mouth to comment he was quickly interrupted.

"Sorry sir, but if you will recall you left an open invitation for Dr. Banner to visit the tower whenever he wished." It took a moment for it to register that yes, he had given out that invitation, and he would likely have to get up to meet the man.

"Is he here now? Do I have to get up?" Tony realized that he was practically whining and he really wanted to do science with Bruce but that meant leaving this wonderful coolness. It didn't matter that it was Loki, what mattered was it felt good.

"He is entering the building now." JARVIS was the most advanced AI in existence but he had the worst timing ever.

"Shit!" Tony jumped out of bed with every intention of rushing down to intercept Bruce before he ever figured out what was up here when he stopped and looked down at his bare chest where the arc reactor glowed brightly and the rumpled dress pants.

It probably wouldn't be the best idea to meet Bruce and try to convince him to stay in the tower and do science with him while shirtless and wearing wrinkled dress pants; it didn't send the right image.

The first thing Tony needed was a shirt but, knowing his luck, the shirt he wore yesterday was tangled up in the sheets where he and Loki had slept. There was no way he could find it and still have enough time to stop Bruce from finding him. On second thought, the look on Bruce's face when he saw him and Loki on the same bed together would be priceless, at least until he went green and started destroying everything.

Loki didn't move the entire time that Tony scrambled around the room trying to find a shirt to wear. Tony didn't know if it was because the god found it funny to see the mortal run around like an idiot looking for a shirt or because it registered that Bruce Banner was the green beast that had taken him down last time.

Either way, it was unlikely that Loki would bother leaving the safety of the room so, cursing under his breath, Tony rushed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Hopefully, that got the message across to the injured god not to leave the room no matter what.

"I would suggest trying the last door on the right and sir?"

"What now?" Tony grumbled as he pulled on his worn AC/DC shirt, the first thing he grabbed from the closet, that perfectly complemented the rumpled dress pants. Not really, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances.

"Dr. Banner is in the elevator on his way up."

There was nothing that could possibly make this morning or afternoon or whatever any crazier.

"JARVIS, please tell me that Loki is still in the room?" If there was one thing that needed to go right it had to be that. If Bruce found out that he was harboring Loki, the former war criminal that everyone believed was dead, there would be no way to convince the man to work with him. Plus the tower, Loki, and likely himself would be pummeled by the Hulk.

"Yes, he has remained the room and has in fact not moved since your departure. I have attempted to ascertain his condition but-"

"Not now Jarv! Where is Bruce?"

"He is arriving now." Just as JARVIS finished speaking, the elevators doors opened and deposited Bruce into the living area. The doctor took in Tony's mismatched clothes in confusion before dismissing it with a slight shake of his head. Sometimes it was good to be the eccentric billionaire that played by no rules. People questioned you less.

"So you finally took me up on my offer, what took you so long?" Tony asked as he pulled Bruce into a short embrace. There was a weary smile on Bruce's face as he explained.

"After everything that happened, I guess I just needed some space. For a couple of weeks it was alright but then SHIELD came back. I noticed I was being followed again and kept moving to try and deter them but nothing worked.

"It took a while before the news about SHIELD being infested with HYDRA members for decades reached the village I had been living in. After it did, that was it. I am done with SHIELD or HYDRA or whatever the new big "secret" spy corporation holding the world's secrets is."

"Amen to that," Tony agreed as he steered the other scientist through the living area with a light hand on a shoulder. It was good to have someone who really understood, who could relate in a way. Tony had never been okay with the whole "secret" spy thing anyways, that had been daddy dearest. Growing up he had quickly learned not to trust anyone unless they gave you a reason to and even then to be wary. SHIELD had never given him any reason to trust them and, if anything, they had given him multiple reasons to not trust them. The Battle of Manhattan and the events leading up to it only reinforced that idea. Tony could understand, if nothing else, the privacy and freedom that Bruce was desperately searching for. He himself had begun to respect privacy a lot more in the recent years, courtesy of SHIELD's obsessive need to know everything about everyone at all times.

"I still don't feel comfortable being here in New York with so many people around that could get hurt by the Other Guy but your security is the best of the best. I figured that, at least here, SHIELD-HYDRA-whatever they're called will not be able to monitor me. The additional incentive of the lab with all the bells and whistles didn't hurt."

Just from the light that came into Bruce's eyes, Tony could tell that it had been a fantastic idea to invite Bruce here. The man had a true passion for science and Tony could only hope that the other scientist would be able to keep up with him.

"Labs." There was absolutely nothing Tony could do to keep the smirk off of his face.

"What?"

"Labs. Not just one candy land but multiple. I knew you would take me up on my offer one day so when the tower had to be remodeled I added a lab specifically for you." The stunned look on Bruce's face was all Tony needed to know that building Bruce's lab would be so worth it.

"Tony, really, you shouldn't have. I don't-"

"Don't you dare say that you don't deserve it because that is not true! You are one of the Avengers that stopped the invasion of aliens and the one that saved my life when I was falling through the sky."

"Technically that wasn't me, it was the Other Guy." Tony rolled his eyes at the utterly predictable statement. Really, Bruce was so afraid of the Hulk that he would renounce anything that he did, be it good or bad. It was sad to see such a smart man ignore such a large part of himself.

"Technically the other guy is you," Tony said with a nudge.

"A part of me that I have next to no control over, a part of me that kills, a part of me I can't trust." All Tony could think of when Bruce was talking was how the other man sounded like he had given up and didn't want to even try to trust the Hulk.

"The big guy saved my life. I would say that is a big step towards being a trustworthy individual, which the Hulk is." Tony held his hands up to stop Bruce just as the other man opened his mouth to discredit his claim.

"No matter how much you deny it and try to suppress him, the Hulk is still there as a part of you. He saved you from dying a very painful death by radiation poisoning and has likely saved you from more than that. All you need to do to stop the Hulk from being unpredictable is to either let him out to play more often or try to work with him instead of against him."

Bruce locked eyes with Tony and sighed deeply. "I guess I just don't trust myself the same was you seem to trust me." It was sad that the brilliant doctor's self-confidence levels were so depressingly low. Tony told him just that but Bruce only shrugged it off and changed the subject.

"So where are these amazing labs that you were bragging about?" If there was ever a question to ask that would distract Tony it would be that. Tony's face lit up with an almost manic energy before he dragged the unwitting doctor back into the elevator.

"Take us down JARVIS." At the command, the doors closed and the two scientists were taken down to lab levels, discussing their work all the while.

Neither man noticed the green eyes that glittered even in the shadows, listening in on the entire conversation. The door had already closed by the time Loki stepped out into the light with a confused look on his face. Only JARVIS was witness when Loki pressed the button on the second elevator to take him down.

After a moment's hesitation, it did just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 28, 2018


	12. Information Gained, Lost, And Given

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because I am now of the belief that I should refrain from putting an excerpt here (you're about to read the story anyways and if you've gotten this far you have to like it a little bit) I'm just going to ramble a moment. School just started up again but I have at least 10 more chapters done in the wings so we are okay there. I am so touched by how many people have read this story and still are. Thank you readers!!! 
> 
> I hope I don't disappoint...

_Neither man noticed the green eyes that glittered even in the shadows, listening in on the entire conversation. The door had already closed by the time Loki stepped out into the light with a confused look on his face. Only JARVIS was_ witness _when Loki pressed the button on the second elevator to take him down._

_After a moment's hesitation, it did just that._

o~*+*~o

It had been the slamming of the door that had knocked Loki out of his daze.

Yes, he had found it extremely amusing to see Stark run around like a nutter in his search for his shirt. The same shirt that Loki could see sticking out from under the bed. Even if the injured god hadn't been internally freaking out about Banner's sudden arrival he would not have informed Stark of the shirts whereabouts. Luckily, Stark was too busy to ask him where the shirt resided or to notice how terrified Loki truly was.

The green beast inside Banner might have done him a favor by smashing the mad Titan out of his head part of the way but that fact that the monster could proved its strength. With his magic as drained as it was there would be no hope of withstanding its power in a second bout.

Loki was so worried about what would happen to him when Banner found him that he didn't give a thought to what Stark would do.

It had been obvious from the slamming of the door that Stark did not want him to follow him and the mortal had been strangely kind so Loki was inclined to stay but curiosity was a powerful thing, one of his few true weaknesses.

Loki had snuck out of the room, ignoring JARVIS's protests, and made his way towards the voices. While he was hidden in the shadows he had heard Stark and Banner's entire conversation and found he had some sympathy for Banner's condition. After all, he himself had been hunted many times over the years and he was only escaping it now by tricking the realms into thinking he had perished.

What caught Loki's attention, though, was when Stark mentioned the labs. The broken god had always had a thirst for knowledge that was never quite quenched and, if he could, he would learn what these mortals knew. It only made sense to follow the men down and hear Stark's tour of them because it was highly unlikely the man would show the labs to him of his own volition.

"Thank you JARVIS," Loki said as the elevator took him down to the labs, the same level that Stark and Banner were now.

Stark's construct had been surprisingly understanding when he had explained his reasons for wanting to go to the labs. By understanding, Loki meant that the machine let him finish speaking before questioning him.

The raven-haired man had sworn not to enter the labs, at least not this time, and, by the extended pause after, Loki assumed JARVIS consulted with Stark before the lift smoothly began its descent. It was then that the injured god decided he should really stop being so surprised by the eccentric human's niceness, despite how the kind gestures were completely unwarranted and unpredictable.

JARVIS was thoughtful enough to silence the normal ding that was emitted when the elevator reached a floor and allowed Loki to sneak out unnoticed. After he saw what was ahead, the god of mischief thought that maybe, just maybe, Stark had predicted his disobedience of the unspoken command of "stay" before Loki himself had thought of following the human down.

Just around the corner was a glass wall and, through it, Loki could see Stark leading Banner around the large space with a gentle guiding hand and a near over enthusiastic cheer. The inventor was speaking avidly and waving his free arm around while Banner nodded and occasionally gave his input when Stark paused for breath. The only problem for the injured god was that he couldn't hear a thing.

Not wanting to risk getting seen by Stark or Banner, Loki made his way back to the elevator with a disappointed air surrounding him. If only he had some dregs of magic left, then he could have heard everything. Now he would never learn and Stark would never show him his place of work and security of his own free will. The man might be nice enough to bandage his wounds, share his bed, and clothe him but Loki was waiting for the minute where Stark told Banner about him and the green monster emerged.

It had been a foolish hope to wish to learn something about the odd man who had been, of all things, kind to him when he should have thrown him out. Nothing about Stark made sense and Loki could admit that what he wanted, almost more than the information the tour of the labs would give him, was to see the human interacting with someone else to see if it wasn't just to him that saw the other man as odd. He wished that he could have stayed and watched the man but the risk of Banner (Stark was probably the one who had let him down there) seeing him was too great.

During the slow trek back to the room that Stark had given him, Loki wondered if he could ask JARVIS to show him what was going on in the labs but quickly dismissed the idea. The machine was Stark's construct and would likely protect the man's privacy over most else. Besides, he had already been allowed down there in the first place and there were some boundaries that did not need pushing.

"And this here is possibly my greatest invention ever."

The voice came out of nowhere. It was obviously Stark but the man was in his lab with Banner. It suddenly hit Loki like a charging bilgesnipe that it was JARVIS relaying the audio from the lab to him. What did the machine think it was doing? Did Stark know?

"This miniaturized arc reactor was the only thing keeping me alive for the past couple of years. The one I have now is the fourth version of the one I built in a cave while held captive. Now let me tell you, that was not the best thing that could have happened to me but it did open my eyes to the horrible truths of the world.

"I would not be the man I am today without that little kidnapping from good old Obie just like your incident with radiation poisoning changed you. You, however, have refused to embrace the horribly wonderful cursed green gift that we have been gifted with.

"Now that I have bestowed upon you my wisdom, let's go to your lab!"

The audio feed abruptly cut off and Loki was left to wonder if that was all he was meant to hear or because of something else. This uncertainty meant that Loki was both surprised and not surprised when Stark rushed into the room.

"Ok, I know I didn't give you much warning before Bruce showed up," Stark started quickly. An apology was definitely not what Loki had been expecting but he quickly recovered.

"I would consider what happened no warning." Loki's eyes were narrowed in what was mostly false anger. It was the look that fooled everyone, especially Thor, but Stark just laughed and continued without pause.

"In my defense, you learned he was here at the same time I did." Loki raised his eyebrow in derision. It did not help that they learned at the same time because Banner was almost there.

"Anyways, Jolly Green is going to be staying here for a while to keep off of SHIELD or whatever they call themselves now's radar. I have a whole other floor for him with his own personal lab so I don't think he should be up here often. If he does show up then JARVIS will warn you and you can hide." The human seemed sincere, he could tell as the god of lies. It was... strange. That seemed to be the only consistent thing with Stark.

"Why?"

"Why would you hide? Do you have a death wish? Hide if you don't want the Hulk to remodel the floor with your face again!" A scowl covered Loki's face as the mortal completely avoided his question. The self-proclaimed genius could not comprehend his simple question.

"Not that! Why are you not telling Banner that I'm here? Why are you keeping my presence, an enemy's presence, a secret?"

"Um..." Stark rubbed the back of his neck and looked oddly self-conscious for a man of such sarcastic wit and humor. "We probably should have had this conversation when you first woke up but I had work and then Pep-Mrs. Potts showed up and for some reason, I told you about her and Stane and the arc reactor." Tony paused for a minute and locked eyes with Loki, the human looking strangely solemn.

"For reasons that I will explain shortly, I don't consider you my enemy anymore."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 28, 2018


	13. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because I wrote this a while back I am editing this story as I post but it still might not be perfect. I'm only human. Any feedback on this story is greatly appreciated so please keep reviewing and leaving kudos! Thank you!!

_"For reasons that I will explain shortly, I don't consider you my enemy anymore."_

o~*+*~o

Tony could barely keep a straight face and it was only thanks to the decades of learning how to perfectly control his expression that kept him from laughing in Loki's face.

Loki, the ever-composed god of mischief, lies, and deception, was positively gaping at him.

Or, at least that's how Tony interpreted the widened eyes and bewildered expression that graced Loki's ever stoic face.

"Close your mouth, Bambi, or you'll catch flies." The way Loki's mouth immediately thinned into a straight line that was paired with a disapproving stare broke what was left of Tony's facade of seriousness and the man was left to laugh silently at the ground, completely ignoring the burning glare.

"Your reasons, Stark." Loki was definitely starting to get angry now but that face of perfect confusion was all Tony could think about and you really couldn't blame him. Would anyone really be able to sit there with a straight face if the most stoic person in their life looked at them, completely dumbfounded, by a simple statement? Tony definitely couldn't.

"Oh, right. Those are important," Tony said with a grin that just wouldn't leave his face even though he knew that it only made the god of lies and mischief angrier. That thought sobered the genius up a little bit.

"Ok, for starters you eyes are green." The confused look was back on Loki's face and Tony was sad to say that it was becoming quite common. If the man would just stop being confused by kindness and Tony's awesome leaps in logic then Tony would be able to stop feeling like comforting the injured god like he was a kid. Tony was sure that he would get his throat slit for that, magic or no magic.

"The eyes of Barton, Selvig and yourself while under the tesseracts influence were a bright blue that matched the color of the tesseract. What snapped me out of my horribly ill-timed panic attack was that fact. My mind could not understand why your eyes were green and not blue, the blue of the tesseract, the same blue as Barton's, and it clicked. One panic attack averted. Now only if I could do that with all of them," Tony mused before Loki's impatient expression brought him back on track.

"Secondly, your injuries." Just by the way the god's green eyes flashed meant that Tony was treading on thin ice. It was a good thing that Tony didn't really care. Loki probably wouldn't kill him before he had finished his explanation.

"What does my suffering have to do with anything?" The words were bit out but, having been in a somewhat similar situation before, Tony could tell Loki wasn't angry at him but at the ones who had caused the suffering.

"Once Thor came back to Earth, Midgard, whatever, he spread the word of your 'glorious sacrifice'. To all the realms you were dead. I know that with your magic you would likely have the ability to shapeshift and when Thor told us that it was a natural talent of yours it only made sense to me that you had faked your death. But why?"

Loki's mouth was clenched, his lips pressed into a thin line, and it was obvious that the raven-haired man was not going to answer his question. Too bad Tony already had an answer.

"I couldn't understand why you had faked your death until you showed up on my doorstep or, more precisely, crash landed in my living room.

"The injuries that you had were consistent with torture over an extended period of time. It only made sense that you had faked your death to hide from those who would do you harm. Unfortunately for you, the death that had fooled the thunder god didn't fool them.

"Let me guess, whoever gave you that wonderful Chitauri army?" Loki's scowl deepened with anger and gave the slightest of nods. The more Tony thought about it the more he believed that there had been another being pulling everyone's strings; Loki's, the Chitauri's, and through Loki they had controlled Barton and Selvig. With effort, Tony pushed his contemplations away for another day because right now he had to deal with the god in front of him.

"I'm assuming that they were not pleased with the way your invasion played out." There was the slightest dipping of Loki's head and Tony took it as a nod and moved forward.

"Ah, so they, like myself, did not believe that you were truly dead and sought you out. When they found you they kidnapped you, godnapped you? And they took you to their home, or new home if I did blow up where they had lived with that nuke, to punish you for your failure." Another slight nod; they were finally getting somewhere.

"The extent of the injuries also tells me two more things." Loki looked up into Tony's eyes with something similar to surprise and wariness hidden in them.

Unfortunately for Tony, instead of the bright green eyes slipping into curiosity, the emerald eyes turned as sharp as the stone. "Pray tell." The words were accompanied by an almost feral grin that challenged Tony. Thankfully Tony knew that he was right. Probably.

"The first is that you have far more power than you ever revealed in the invasion. Anyone else would have died on the first day if not the first few hours. Your magic was constantly healing you and draining itself in the process, leaving you with a smaller chance to resist each time. And somehow, after e you had been through, you found a way to teleport yourself here.

"The second is that even with all of your power you never used your magic once, relying on the power of the scepter alone, during the invasion. That makes it likely that you were fighting the tesseracts hold and blocking the use of your magic or the tesseract's influence negated your magic. If it had actually been you trying to take over the world, the world would be bowing at your feet, however reluctantly."

Now that it was over Tony couldn't tell whether or not Loki's non-expression was a good thing or not.

"So, to sum it all up, I don't think of you as an enemy anymore because I know that you were under the tesseract's control during the invasion, you didn't use your magic during the invasion, and you have been punished enough by the Chitauri to completely make up for the destruction the invasion caused, though I am still put out by you throwing me out of my window."

The smallest sliver of hope shone through when the last comment made Loki grin. Maybe they could get over this awkward wary stage and be something closer to business partners or friends. Just thinking about all of the knowledge that Loki must have gathered after living for centuries made Tony want to drag him down to his lab and start asking questions but that probably wouldn't go over well right now. Oh well, some other time.

"Logically, your argument holds up but you know nothing about my character. You have no idea what I might do now that I am free of the Chitauri's hold and can walk of my own free will. You have no idea what I will do once my magic returns to me. You are making your decision over things that I had next to no control over but you know nothing about how I feel."

Now Tony was the one confused, was Loki trying to keep himself labeled as the enemy? Why would anyone want to be considered the bad guy? Tony had changed his entire lifestyle, not really but some of it, to change the image of himself. It was the reason he became Iron Man and went out to save the world. A real bad guy would have tried to convince Tony he was good, not the other way round. Unless this was some kind of manipulation or bluff where Loki said he was the bad guy to convince Tony he was a good guy… but that was probably just Tony's natural paranoia kicking in. Loki was good or, at the very least, not bad. The invasion could have gone a whole lot worse and really, how bad can a guy be when he lets you use him as a pillow for a night?

"So tell me Stark." Loki stood from his position on the edge of the bed and took a step closer so that Tony and he were only inches apart. It was times like these where Tony really hated being so short.

"What will I do next?"

It was actually a very good question but apparently, Loki hadn't been listening yesterday when he had mentioned Thor. That made Tony grin and Loki lost his creepy sneer.

"You forget that Thor told us your life story as he remembers it.

"You are going to stay here for as long as it takes you to regain the majority of your magic, maybe more, and while you are here you are going to try and gather as much information as possible so you are not left out to dry when you leave or when I toss you out." The way Loki simultaneously somehow got paler while glaring harder at Tony was astounding and a little frightening. Pale did nothing to detract from Loki's lethalness.

"Which I won't." The glare was still there.

"Probably." Still there.

"Most likely, and that's the best answer you are going to get." Still there but now Loki was smiling. Tony took it as a good sign this time.

"Well, it is good to know that I can keep this wonderful bed for at least a little while longer." Loki turned away and slid under the covers on his side of the bed. Odd that he was already thinking about the bed with his side and Loki's side. Time for the worst idea ever but those were Tony's forte.

"Again, technically my bed, but while you are here it is yours under one condition." One of Loki's eyebrows raised in question and his eyes glowed in the dim room. Tony really hoped he wouldn't regret this extremely horrible idea.

"And that is?"

"You have to share it with me." This dumbfounded look was almost funnier than the last one but it didn't last long enough for Tony to truly savor it.

"Didn't I tell you just this morning that you make a wonderful pillow?"

"Yes." From the looks of it, Loki did not understand the significance of finding a good human pillow. It didn't matter that Loki wasn't actually human, that actually was a perk. The lower core temp was definitely something Tony could get with.

"Well I wasn't lying and, because your core temperature is freaky low for a human, you make the perfect ice pack. Definitely not complaining about whatever place you are from that made you like this, it's awesome. My own personal ice pack." Poor Loki looked too surprised about the ice pack part. It didn't take a genius to know that most people did not want their own humanoid ice packs but most people didn't have arc reactors warming their bodies from the inside.

"Plus, the recognition that you are not evil and that you are here is great for nightmares and panic attacks alike." It wasn't completely surprising that this was the line that got through to Loki, after all, the man had gone through the god equivalent of the hellish Afghan cave.

"Fine. I will share this overly large, comfortable, bed with you Stark." Totally unexpected answer but who was he to turn down his own personal ice pack. Not him. Especially after he had asked for it in the first place. Turing Loki down now would be the pinnacle of stupidity.

"Good, we have an agreement." Tony held out his hand for Loki to shake and was surprised to see the soft smile on Loki's face when he shook his hand with a firm grip.

"Indeed."

Loki was the one to pull away from the grip first and move back under the covers. Taking that as his cue, Tony moved to the other side of the bed but lay on top of the covers.

"Why did you let JARVIS take me down to the labs?" The injured god's question came out of nowhere though Tony had really been expecting that to be the first question out of the raven-haired man's mouth.

Tony turned to look at the injured god to find the other man just a little bit closer than he remembered. Maybe Loki craved whatever warmth the arc reactor emitted just as much as Tony wanted the coolness Loki radiated. That was probably the only reasons the other man agreed to share the bed with him, not that Tony cared particularly, he was just happy that Loki agreed.

"Because I knew that you would want to see them for your information gathering spree. And before you ask, I wanted JARVIS to relay that piece of audio to you because I had already shown you the reactor and the whole philosophical thing I told Brucie totally applies to you too." Or at least Tony thought that it could apply to Loki.

The terrible curse that the trickster had been gifted with was both his alien biology that made him amazingly cold and his magic that was considered womanly on Asgard. Loki just needed to accept the fact that what made him different was awesome and, though the other man had likely accepted his magic already, what race he was or what he looked like really shouldn't matter or affect the way Loki lived his life.

"How?"

"Think on it, you're a smart guy," Tony said sweetly with a smile. Loki merely looked unamused and seemed perfectly content to wait as long as needed for the answer to be told.

There was no way Tony was going to give Loki the answer that he seemed to want so badly. It would be better if the other man figured it out on his own because Tony was sure that he would have no luck convincing Loki that he didn't care what the hell he looked like because the only thing that really mattered was how you acted, or at least in Tony's gracious opinion that was all that mattered.

"I'm gonna go check on Bruce and see how he is settling in. There might be food in the kitchen, JARVIS can direct you, but if there isn't just order something and it will be sent to your room," the billionaire said with a grin as he got out of the bed and walked to the door before pausing.

It was sad that it only hit him now that Loki probably didn't even know what pizza was, much less Shawarma. The guy hadn't really lived yet.

"If he can't decide what to order just buy him pizza or shwarma."

"Yes, sir."

"Good."

Now that dinner or lunch or whatever meal was supposed to be appropriate at this time was completed Tony walked out the door to check on Bruce. The man had been ecstatic about his lab and couldn't wait to start working, something Tony could understand. Bruce was better about taking breaks to do silly stuff like eating and drinking and sleeping so it was likely the man would come wandering around eventually looking for one of the three. To say it would be bad for Bruce to return to this floor and find Loki would be an understatement.

Tony's mind was filled with questions and equations and good recommendations as he rode the lift back down to Bruce's lab. He was quite distracted so he probably wouldn't have heard Loki's question even if he hadn't been halfway down the hallway when it was asked. If he had heard it though, he would be hard-pressed to choose whether to laugh or stand there astonished.

"JARVIS, what is pizza?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: January 28, 2018


	14. Magical in Nature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 100 kudos!! Thank you and please continue to review and leave kudos!

_Tony's mind was filled with questions and equations and good recommendations as he rode the lift back down to Bruce's lab. He was quite distracted so he probably wouldn't have heard Loki's question even if he hadn't been halfway down the hallway when it was asked. If he had heard it though, he would be hard-pressed to choose whether to laugh or stand there astonished._

_"JARVIS, what is pizza?"_

o~*+*~o

"So pizza is essentially bread with tomatoes and cheese?"

"In its simplest form, yes."

However strange Midgard and its inhabitants might be, they were strangely ingenious when it came to some of the strangest things. There were no dishes similar to pizza on Asgard nor was there any dish similar to Midgardian fare other than the large roasted turkey normally eaten during the human festival called Thanksgiving but was very common on Asgard.

Midgard, though the youngest and likely the smallest of the nine realms, was extremely diverse. Each of the land masses were split into countries and the countries into provinces and cities and towns and something called neighborhoods that he believed was mentioned by Barton on his last visit. Kings and queens were a part of Midgard's past and were looked down upon or were cast out by the majority of the realm. It was a shame such change was not as common on Asgard.

Over the few thousand years available to them the humans had evolved, their significantly short lifetimes urging the beings to do as much as they could in their lives before they died. What the humans lacked in magic was rapidly being completed with science at a pace that far exceeded that of any other realm.

The other realms, while rich in magic, lacked any significant change over the millennium and the inhabitants lived drastically longer lives than humans. One single century, if they were lucky, was all a human got to influence their lives. It was no wonder there was such urgency to drastically influence the world around them.

It was strange how Midgard was lacking in magic when the other realms were so saturated with it, especially the elven realms. There were records of mages that cropped up in the realm every couple of centuries or so but they were few and far between when considering humanity's rather lacking lifespan. Magic just did not stick in the realm of the humans and the attitude that mirrored the Ãsier on the matters of arcane was an apt reason. The witch trials had wiped out the last generation rather quickly.

Loki himself had always felt that it would benefit the realm if magic were gradually reintroduced so that, over the generations, it would grow slowly enough that it would not be noticed until it was too late for mages to be prosecuted. Midgard was, after all, the doorway between the nine realms and the others beyond, the only realm to simultaneously exist in both. Peculiar that of all the realms it was the one that needed the most protection from magic that had none.

Of course, if magic were to be introduced to Midgard once again there would have to be a powerful mage to instruct the younger ones that would then, with the help of magic, live long enough to teach the upcoming generation.

Loki had always fancied that it would be him to save the self-destructive humans that were, bit by bit, destroying the realm they inhabited with the too rapid change and gain Odin's, who he had believed to be his father, approval or at the very least something more than a passing glance. That dream had died when the truth of his heritage had been revealed but now mages from Midgard could help him thwart Thanos and possibly defeat him. To find that the first mage of true potential in over three centuries, the longest break in history, was the great Tony Stark was like the universe laughing in his face for ever hoping he had a chance.

The magical core that resided inside Stark was as large or larger than his had been as a child, unlearned in the arcane arts. The problem was that it was Stark, of all people. The two of them were frighteningly similar in many ways yet Stark was a prince among men on this little planet. While the human had shown him some modicum of kindness that did not mean he needed to return the favor by giving Stark a true weapon against himself.

If Loki taught Stark magic as payment for the goodness the man had treated him with then he would have no leverage on the human and would be useless beside him. If there was one thing Loki would not tolerate it would be the uselessness he had felt standing in the golden Thor's shadow in front of Odin. The irritating thing was that Loki genuinely wanted to return the kindness Stark had shown him, the unbiased nature of the man was refreshing.

Stark seemed genuinely interested in his true form, as repulsive as Loki himself believed it was and didn't seem to understand that Frost Giants were heinous monsters that killed for sport. The stories that Loki had grown up hearing meant nothing to Stark and the curious nature of the man-made Loki rethink just how true the monstrosities that were told of the Jötun were. He was, however, reserving judgment on the validity of the stories for later as the question Stark posed was far more interesting at the moment.

The inquiry about the validity of Thor's statement about his heritage was obviously Stark's second choice for an unlimited question with a guaranteed answer. Any question about magic, the nature of it or how it could be translated into equations for his machines would have been the expected question yet the man had refrained to spare him, but from what he did not know. Loki was unsure if it made him more trustworthy or less.

The predictability of any actions that Stark made was next to none and that made him an unknown variable in any plans he had for escape or evasion of the Chitauri upon their return, and there would be a return. Loki had no doubts on that front. What Stark would do upon their return was a mystery but knowing that the man was currently playing hero meant he would likely at least attempt to protect him, a greater feat than what he could expect from SHIELD or any of the other Avengers. Stark was the only one with enough brains to put together his faked death and the only one who would ever think to show him any kindness.

As if his train of thought had triggered it, JARVIS's voice began to speak through the many hidden speakers. "The pizza that Mister Stark ordered for you has arrived and is being delivered to your room presently by one of the bots."

Loki's eyes were locked on the door and he watched it closely as it swung open and a cardboard box appeared to float inside, hovering inches above the ground. The container moved towards him until it hit his side of the bed and could move no further. Loki reached down cautiously and lifted the box up to reveal a small, thin robot that scuttled along the floor towards the door again. Quite an ingenious construct.

The smell that wafted up from the closed container made the injured god's mouth water and his stomach growl, almost as if it were demanding the food in front of him. The pizza appeared to be plain, simply cheese and tomato sauce on bread, but that did not bother Loki and was, in fact, a relief. It was best not to try too many new things today, especially with what he had previously been considering.

After only one delicate bite of the plain pizza, Loki was sure that it was better than nearly everything present in an Asgardian feast. Nearly only because his deceased mother made one dessert that would forever be his favorite no matter what he tried and despite the fact that she would never be there to make it for him again.

Loki was careful to consume each piece slowly and let himself savor each bite, his experience with being starved only to be presented with a feast all too real and this was not even the second or third time this had happened over the years. He had been young and foolish enough the first time to gorge himself when the abundance of food arrived that he quickly made himself sick, something he was loathe to repeat with his healing injuries.

Not that Loki ever really felt the pain of the cuts and contusions, his pain tolerance was too high and the bed too comfortable to feel anything other than content. Looking down at his bound chest, the raven-haired man noticed that the bandages would need to be rewrapped soon, especially with the dotting of grease stains that appeared on the fabric no matter how careful he was.

Sadly, it was all too soon before all that was left of the meal was an empty cardboard box that Loki sat down next to the bed. It was not ten minutes later that what looked like the same robot crept back inane took the container out the door where the injured god followed.

Once he was standing up and moving around, the blood flowing stronger through his limbs, the more severe of his injuries began to make themselves known. The worst was the sharp pain that radiated from his chest from both his ribs and the line of red he knew was drawn in his skin under the bandages. Every step set off a chain reaction that resulted in small twinges of discomfort that seemed to emanate from everywhere. All of this was ignored with little difficulty.

The kitchen was just around the corner, the bright light of the midday sun streaming through the wall of windows. Turning his back to the light, Loki began to rummage through the many cabinets on the back wall.

"Five to the right and one up."

Pausing in his search, the injured god looked up at the ceiling before walking over to the designated drawer and pulled it open. Inside were rows of bandages, antiseptic, and other Midgardian medicines. Loki reached inside and pulled out a bundle of bandages, foregoing anything else, and leaned against the nearby counter with his back still to the windows.

After quickly shrugging out of the oversized, black t-shirt Stark had oh so graciously bestowed upon him, Loki began slowly unwrapping the bandages around his torso.

The wrapping was neatly done for him having been drapped unconscious on the couch when Stark had done it, not something that Loki was necessarily proud of-the falling unconscious part that is. The dried blood glued the fabric of the bandage to his skin making the raven-haired man wince softly when each movement pulled on his skin and the healing slash across his chest, the deep wound that was already starting to seal itself, if dramatically slower than it normally would.

It appeared as though any magic that Loki had been regenerating over that past day or so was immediately being used to heal the many wounds he had accumulated. However, the rate at which his magic was returning was almost depressingly low and it could take weeks before he was completely healed and his actual magic reserves began to replenish themselves. The thought of spending that much time in Stark's company where he would be at the man's mercy was not nearly as frightening as it would have been when he had just arrived.

Once the bandage was completely removed, jLoki absently mindedly balled it up in one hand and tossed it carelessly onto the counter behind him. One of Stark's constructs would likely pick it up later. The raven-haired man then strode over to the sink and turned on the heated water, running a small cloth he had snagged nearby under the stream before ringing it out and using it to cleanse his chest and what he could reach of his back without stretching his wound uncomfortably.

Understandably, this was the part that Stark had neglected to administer his treatment to when he first arrived as their subsequent positions had created difficulty.

By the time Loki believed the wound and the surrounding area was sufficiently clean, the cloth was bloodied and gritty with whatever remaining dirt was left after Stark had not removed earlier. It was strange for Loki to think of the events of his arrival as being only just over a day ago as so much had happened. Everything had changed within the span of mere seconds, the time it had taken to travel to Stark's tower in the first place though that had been less traveling and more crashing.

Shaking his head, Loki stopped and snagged the overly large black shirt from where he had dropped it on the ground. The injured god saw no reason to rebandage his torso or don the shirt when he was planning on locating the nearest bath and soaking himself in it for at least an hour now that the most demanding of his injuries was clean. The bloodied rag and dirty bandage were still laying on the counter as Loki strode swiftly back to his room in search of the baths.

o~~o

Later, when the injured god was relaxing in the jacuzzi that was hidden away in the back corner of his bathroom, Loki decided that Stark was definitely not a bad man and that simply telling Stark that he had a gift for the arcane couldn't be that bad. Especially not if he could stay here with the billionaire that practically controlled the realm on his own already.

Loki stretched contentedly inside the overly large tub, the almost too hot water and jets heaven on his abused body. Thank the Norns his regenerating magic was already speeding up the healing process or else the beating of the jets would have been much less pleasant.

After another twenty minutes or so the raven-haired man pulled himself out of the tub and dried himself with a nearby towel, attempting not to irritate any of his injuries but with so many it was inevitable there were a few sparks of pain now and then. Once he was done drying himself and felt truly clean for the first time since landing, Loki tugged back on the sweatpants and padded out to the kitchen once again.

The sight of Stark hunched over the coffee pot made the injured god pause for a moment and he was suddenly self-conscious of how his state of undress revealed the true extent of his injuries, but he pushed through it and walked forward as casually as he could to the drawer with the bandages. The drawer that just so happened to be right next to the coffee pot.

Stark didn't seem to notice his approach until the sound of the drawer opening woke him up from whatever trance he seemed to be in, making the genius spin around and, when noticing his sudden close proximity, jump backward and almost trip and fall over his own feet. Luckily, Loki grabbed the other man's arm and dragged him upright before he fell but there was nothing the raven-haired man could do to keep the small smirk off of his face.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Stark's bewildered expression only made Loki smirk turn more sincere, closer to a true smile. He raised an eyebrow as if to say that it was too obvious so outright say where he had come from because it was. He hadn't even bothered to completely dry his hair before exiting the baths, small rivulets of water still dripping from his hair and running down his torso or falling to the floor.

Stark's eyes followed the trail of one droplet as it fell to the ground with an inaudible splat. "Bath or shower?"

"Bath." Loki was still smiling faintly when he replied, the absentmindedness of Stark reminiscent of his own time spent in the libraries of Asgard studying while Thor trained. His mind had always been so filled with spells and incantations that he was blind to the rest of the world.

"Good choice," Stark said lazily as his eyes roamed over the bare expanse of the injured god's chest and arms, his sharp eyes catching all of the contusions that he hadn't noticed before.

Suddenly Stark stepped closer, right into Loki's personal space and it was only surprise that kept Loki from taking a long step back when the inventor's hands reached out towards the gash on his chest only to stop centimeters away. "Looks like this is healing well." Stark looked up at him for permission and Loki nodded. If the man had wanted to harm him he would have earlier.

The faint touches that ghosted over his skin were so gentle for such calloused and strong hands that it stunned the injured god. The inventor was careful not to put pressure on any wound, likely for fear that it would open up again, but that didn't stop him from studying the smaller, less severe, cuts and bruises more carefully.

"Actually it looks like it's healing better than just well, it's healing far faster than any human would but," Stark glanced back up to his face for a moment before returning to study the wound, "you're not human."

"Obviously," Loki almost snorted with a roll of his eyes as Stark dropped his hands and straightened up to look Loki in the eye.

"Is it your magic that is helping it heal quicker or is your normal regeneration rate quicker than a human?"

"Both."

The look Stark gave him simply begged for more information and Loki graciously obliged. "My magic is gradually returning to me and is immediately used to heal myself unconsciously but my regeneration rate is already slightly higher than a humans would be."

"When do you think that all of," Stark gestured all over Loki's body, "that will be healed up and you start having enough mojo to do stuff."

"It could take anywhere from a week or so to a month or longer. Everything depends on what happens during that time and how much my body is allowed to recuperate. And don't worry Stark," Loki's eyes locked on Stark's and refused to set them free, "I will refrain from attacking you or your fellow Avengers once my magic reserves are restored."

Stark was the first one to break the stare with a blink of confusion. "Fellow Avengers? The only one here is Bruce and I already have a plan to introduce the two of you."

At the glare, Loki gave the shorter man he continued. "Gradually of course."

"And I guess it wouldn't hurt to wait till you get your powers back." Loki nodded slightly in assent before a slight shiver ran through his body. He was about to brush it off as the cold of the water evaporating but the slight pressure in his head was not something he could mistake as a headache.

"Yes, waiting would be a fantastic idea but Banner is not the only Avenger in the tower." He could be mistaken, but the remnants of the tesseracts influence responded to that of another. There was only one other being under the cubes influence that would visit the tower without notifying ahead.

"What do you mean?" The other man appeared to be both confused and worried and that was reasonable, JARVIS had yet to pick up the other being on his sensors.

"Sir, it appears as though Mr. Loki is correct. Ms. Romanov and Mr. Barton have just been admitted into the tower and are entering the elevator now."

"How the hell did you know they were here?" Suspicion was written clearly on Stark's face but Loki was not about to reveal just how much he was still broken, not physically but mentally, so he merely grinned and let a bright glint appear in his eyes.

"One of my many titles is Trickster, why should I reveal my secret?"

With that parting comment, Loki strode quickly back to his room where the door automatically closed and locked behind him with a loud click. The sound did not unnerve the injured god as it normally would as he was still caught up the incredulous look on Stark's face. It was only when he lay back down on the bed that he realized that he was still shirtless and had neglected to grab the bandages from the drawer.

It was all Stark's fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: February 2, 2018


	15. Playing the Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Over 100 kudos!! Thank you so much readers and I hope you continue to read and enjoy the story.

_"One of my many titles is Trickster, why should I reveal my secret?"_

_With that parting comment, Loki strode quickly back to his room where the door automatically closed and locked behind him with a loud click. The sound did not unnerve the injured god as it normally would as he was still caught up the incredulous look on Stark's face. It was only when he lay back down on the bed that he realized that he was still shirtless and had neglected to grab the bandages from the drawer._

_It was all Stark's fault._

o~*+*~o

Of course the damnably polite dinging of the elevator announcing the new arrivals would go off right after the door to Loki's room slammed shut and locked, leaving him no time to run after the man and demand answers.

There had been something wrong about the way Loki had shivered so suddenly, the god's lower internal temperature should have made the kitchen warm, almost hot, for him, even considering how he had been damp from the recent bath. Tony could suspect all he wanted but, if he had to guess, he would say that something had caused the injured god to shiver and that same thing was what alerted Loki to Clint and Natasha's arrival.

Damn the assassins and their terrible timing.

The doors to the elevator slid open to reveal two pissed off killers striding towards him. The sight almost made Tony laugh because, instead of the black bodysuit that Natasha had worn the last time she had come and stabbed him with something, the Black Widow was wearing jeans and a colorfully stripped t-shirt. Clint, on the other hand, stood slightly behind Natasha and where she was wearing bright colors Clint was wearing black pants and a dark blue hoodie.

"Where is he?"

The redhead's demand immediately made Tony question the broken SHIELD's intelligence because he had thought that the only person to believe that Loki wasn't really dead was himself. Who in SHIELD was smart enough to think that as well? No one was so it must not be Loki they were looking for. Tony hoped that it wasn't Loki that they were looking for because Tony wasn't completely sure how far he was willing to stick his neck out for the other man, enemy or not.

"Who?" Tony asked as he was slowly backed against his counter, playing the victim because a confident captor always told all.

"You know who!"

Well, Tony would know who if he was only hiding one person that was hunted by SHIELD but he had two and, even though one was highly unlikely, Loki's return to the tower wasn't exactly silent.

"Now tell us where he is!" Natasha looked ready to put him in a chokehold until he answered, not that he would be able to answer when he lacked the ability to properly breathe, but Tony just smiled in the face of it. This had nothing on Afghanistan and Natasha in normal clothes was very not threatening.

"I don't know what happened to make you guys finally, officially, lose whatever marbles you had left but I don't know who he is much less where the mysterious he is." His response made Clint, who had been following behind silently, narrow his eyes and Natasha shake her head sharply.

"We know he is here, SHIELD has been monitoring his movements." The only person that Tony knew for sure had been previously monitored by SHIELD was Bruce because SHIELD had nowhere near the tech needed for a tracker that had a range that spanned realms. Bruce it was then.

"Who's movements?" Tony cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow slightly for effect. "Plus, SHIELD is practically gone, unless you want to tell me that the organization is continuing underground."

There was only so much dumb a self-proclaimed genius could play and it was so obvious that it wasn't SHIELD that sent them, the broken intelligence still scrambled after the helicarrier incident. Incident being a very, very lenient opinion. It had been closer to a catastrophe.

"Banner's movements." Tony almost smirked when he heard Natasha's admission. No one failed to fall for the dumb, lost genius facade. Narcissistic playboy was the perfect cover.

"Banner? Jolly Green left us after the war, never to return." Tony added a little flourish of his hand at the end and put his hand over his heart as if he were wounded, gaining the rolled eyes and exasperated expressions he was looking for. The predictability of the reactions almost made Tony smile.

"He is dangerous." That oh so predictable remark made Tony roll his own eyes. "Of course he is, he turns into a giant when he is angry, but what does that make you? He is completely harmless when he's calm but you and bird brain over there are dangerous all the time."

It was so hypocritical for two assassins that had murdered dozens of people on purpose to call a man who unconsciously and out of fear injured and occasionally killed his attackers in self-defense. Out of the two, the assassins were more dangerous on average than the Hulk.

"Why do you even care where he is?" Tony leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms in front of his chest in subtle defense. Clint and Natasha obviously did not care about Bruce's condition or whereabouts, no matter what they said otherwise, but who were they working for and why were they here?

Natasha turned half away from Tony, her profile shadowed by her hair as she gazed at the ground. It was all very dramatic and Tony was very unimpressed. If he wanted dramatics then he could just go into a room with Loki for a more entertaining evening.

"I was a SHIELD agent, dedicated my life to the cause, only to find it corrupted up to the very top of the system," Natasha started. So it was going to be the sob story angle, Tony could work with that.

"I bet it didn't help that they were creating highly weaponized helicarriers or sending Barton on the easiest missions in the most remote places that kept him far away," Tony broke in with a smirk. Both assassins immediately snapped their heads towards him and Tony gracefully maneuvered himself around the pair so he was standing near his living room, his back to the windows that held a perfect view of the setting sun over the New York skyline.

"How-" Clint started but Tony quickly cut the man off. Tony still found it strange that Clint had barely spoken the entire time. Looking closer, it seemed as if Barton preoccupied with something else as all of his entertainment was focused inward. Maybe it hadn't just been Loki to get a chill but it seemed the injured god was the only one who knew what it meant. After the split second it took this deduction to run through his head, Tony turned more of his thoughts towards the current conversation.

"Genius, remember?"

That remark earned him another scoff from Natasha and a small snort from Clint, who finally managed to brighten up a little and cracked a small smile.

"So you are here why exactly?" Tony had some guesses but he needed more data to form a sound conclusion. That didn't really matter too much though because the game of finding out what he could tease out of his guests was so much more fun.

"We need your help."

That was not exactly the response he had been expecting.

"Wow, that is not something I expected to hear when I woke up this morning." The shock that Tony let slide onto his face was not all faked. The two top agents of SHIELD coming to him for help? An unprecedented event.

"Stop messing around Stark. You made Banner's signature disappear off the face of the Earth and SHIELD was still trying to locate him when we left. We want you to do the same for us."

While the last part was clearly a demand that Tony could not back out of without being conspicuous, the first part Natasha had admitted with a small drop of her head, almost as if she were reluctant or ashamed to admit it. What really caught Tony's attention though was how she said they left SHIELD. It seemed so...final.

"How did you know to come here if SHIELD didn't know?"

"It was no secret to us that you were the one that Banner was the most comfortable with out of all of us and that plus your resources and similar hobbies led us to believe that he would go to you as a last resort."

"Last resort? I'm insulted." Tony placed his hand over his heart once again in mock pain as he smirked at the ex-agents.

With a more serious face, Tony asked his next question. "SHIELD?"

"I did not report my speculation." Not exactly the answer Tony had been looking for but it would suffice.

"Barton?"

"Don't worry, I didn't tell either." The archer's voice was quieter and significantly less cheery than Tony remembered from after the battle. Something about the last few missions must have really affected the man. Or maybe it was the mysterious chill. Tony mentally shrugged those thoughts away for another time.

"I'm not worried about what SHIELD would do to me, SHIELD is as incompetent as the rest of you, so if you had told anyone and if they had sent someone in then they wouldn't have been able to get through the front door. I'm just worried that they might do something that would force me to destroy them."

Tony threw a cheeky smile on the end to off put the threat to SHIELD embedded in his reply. As always, it worked to perfection and he was met with an exasperated shake of heads and rolling of eyes from both of the former agents.

"Sure, Stark," Natasha replied in a joking tone, obviously unbelieving that the alcoholic playboy Tony Stark would be able to cause any damage on any significant level.

Tony could never understand how everyone always forgot that it was him inside the suit, who built the suit in the first place, and the one who managed to do this all within the confines of a cave in Afghanistan during his abduction. And then there was the fact that he had built the miniaturized arc reactor out of scraps, something the top SI scientists were still unable to do in their newly upgraded labs.

"So can you help us or not?" Clint asked petulantly as he sat perched on the top of his counter. Rolling his eyes, Tony accepted that if he was going to do what he planned to do then he was going to have to get used to the archer sitting on each and every raised surface reachable.

"Make two of SHIELD's top agents-" Tony broke off with a smirk at Clint and Natasha's dark looks, "-ex-agents disappear off the face of the Earth while possibly also harboring other wanted members from SHIELD? Piece of cake." And it really would be. Tony could wipe their files and signatures from every network in his sleep.

If either of the former agents noticed the minor discrepancy of "members" instead of "member" they did not show it as both assassins nodded in thanks, but Tony wasn't done with them yet.

"Hold up a sec. Before I show the two of you your rooms, why exactly are you here?" Tony straightened and took a step forward so he could look Natasha in the eye. After their eyes locked, both parties refused to back down.

"Are you both really leaving the organization that saved you, got you back on your feet, and gave you a home and family?"

It was a blunt question of loyalty, one that Tony didn't know that Natasha would be able to truly answer. The woman owed her life to SHIELD but also to Clint and Tony was interested to see which had a stronger hold on her.

Surprisingly, it was Clint who stepped forward and took Natasha's place in the staring contest, the man's eyes full of genuine hurt and anger. Whatever Clint said next Tony believed would be the truth but that didn't mean he had to trust Natasha to the same degree. After all, she had betrayed him before, even if the deception wasn't as true as it could have been because he had known she was a SHIELD agent before he had hired her.

"I was the one that Loki controlled. I nearly took down the helicarrier and I killed my fellow agents. It didn't really matter that they knew that I was being controlled or that I fought in the final battle, I was the one that killed their friends." Clint broke eye contact and stared at his shoes as he bit out his last remarks.

"They took my bow and sent me away. Now I'm leaving for good."

His statement complete, Clint turned away and began to walk back towards the elevator, Natasha following and gently placing one hand on the man's slightly hunched shoulder in comfort. Natasha then turned and said clearly, "I couldn't let him leave alone," before turning back to her partner again.

Because both of the assassins had their backs to him, neither saw the calculating expression that briefly crossed Tony's face or the way it was quickly slipped under a mask of cheeriness that was only partially faked. After all, the best lies had some bit of truth in them.

"You two have that brother-sister thing going on so I had two separate floors made, one for each of you but connected with a hidden staircase," Tony threw out as he strode past the pair towards the elevator. One glance back confirmed his suspicions and he turned away quickly before he burst out laughing at the assassins expressions.

"Don't look so surprised. One, I am a genius, something you two seem to overlook far too often. Two, I was planning on bringing all the former Avengers to the tower once the reconstruction was finished. Besides," Tony glanced back at the twin looks of hidden confusion and astonishment clearly written on the master assassin's faces, "the revamp was the perfect time to add extra floors and customized rooms."

"Customized rooms?"

"Yep. It's Candyland and I have had no complaints so far."

The trio piled into the elevator and Tony ordered JARVIS to head down to Natasha and Clint's designated floors. Unknown to all but the all-seeing JARVIS was the near hysterical laughter of the raven-haired man laying in the bed he shared with Tony. Who wouldn't laugh at the all too obvious expressions clearly written on the formerly top SHIELD agents faces?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: February 11, 2018


	16. The Life of a Trickster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick shout out to my readers saying thank you so much for sticking with this story and for leaving kudos!

_The trio piled into the elevator and Tony ordered JARVIS to head down to Natasha and Clint's designated floors. Unknown to all but the all-seeing JARVIS was the near hysterical laughter of the raven-haired man laying in the bed he shared with Tony. Who wouldn't laugh at the all too obvious expressions clearly written on the formerly top SHIELD agents faces?_

o~*+*~o

Loki could not be more grateful that JARVIS was willing to relay him both the audio and the video of what was going on outside his (his and Stark's?) room this time. From the very beginning, it was obvious Stark was a far better actor than the human had ever let on around him before and the SHIELD agents were incredibly daft.

They weren't daft because they fell for Stark's incredible facade, he was the god of lies and deception so he would be the one to know, but because, compared to the beauty of Stark's performance, the spies were little more than bumbling children they were so free with their emotions. If Loki could see through them without trying then he was sure that Stark had very little difficulty doing the same. After all, the human was one after his own heart, if it were to be believed that either of them had one.

Loki was abruptly reminded of the comment that had been one of the bitting jabs Ms. Potts had thrown at Tony when she had departed; that the act reactor wasn't proof that he had a heart but that he did not have one at all, that the machine in Stark's chest proved his cold-heartedness. Tony had laughed bitterly after mentioning it, his lips had twisted into a harsh smile as he had explained how ironic the statement was. After all, Ms. Potts had kept the first reactor as a plaque with "proof the Tony Stark has a heart" on it only to throw her own words back into Tony's face. The irony was not missed but Loki, however, found the entire thing completely ridiculous.

Tony Stark was far from heartless and, in fact, with the addition of the arc reactor which functioned as a heart, the man had something closer to two hearts instead of none. Loki only had his cool logic and occasional irrationality to account for his lack of heart. That and his Jötun heritage.

Upon further speculation between the similarities that he knew of, the injured god found that this human was a more controlled version of the chaos that Loki himself embodied. After all of the trials the man had endured, Tony had used his anger and strength of will, not only to avenge himself but to save and avenge others in the process. Out of all of the Avengers, Tony Stark was the one that, without a doubt, was the one that had truly avenged himself and would do the same for any of those that he felt were worthy.

The assassins were still blithely following behind Stark as the billionaire led them through the halls of their personalized floors. Yes, not just rooms but an entire floor for each agent designed specifically to suit their needs. Neither Barton or Romanoff tried to tell Stark that it was too much or try to be grateful. Barton was practically bouncing up and down in excitement, especially after seeing the raised platforms that he could perch on whenever he pleased. Romanoff, on the other hand, finally found her blank face and her eyes were all that showed her wonderment, suspicion, and confusion. Obviously, the assassin was expecting something far different from actual help from Stark when they had come to the tower.

As he lead them on, Stark kept up a constant stream of chatter, mostly boasting about his minor or false accomplishments and skimming over the larger, more important, ones. Despite the volume of words and information Stark produced at such a rapid rate, what he said had little to no importance. It was possible the Stark could talk forever about everything yet say nothing.

It was a particular trait that Loki valued, especially after living in Asgard for so long. Every Asgardian, especially Thor, could be needled into telling you what you wanted to hear if you had enough patience to wait it out and enough speed to get away once they realized what they had told you. Even the Allfather was susceptible to this type of deception, though it had to be done in a subtler manner.

Loki was having a good bit of fun by trying to riddle out all of the flaws in both Romanoff's and Barton's performance and perceptions, not that it was very difficult. It was, in fact, more amusing than anything else. While their attempts to draw Stark in and coax information out of the man was admirable and well done for a pair of mortals, the genius matched their every move.

Each of the spies queries was answered with just enough information to satisfy but not enough to work with. It was a delicate balance to find, a fine line that Tony Stark seemed able to find with astounding ease. The way the man moved and talked and wove his tales reminded him of his younger years, of lighter times when there was no actual malice behind his pranks and his heart had not grown as hard.

There had been a time where Loki had felt free to call Thor brother and the lie did not leave a bitter taste in his tongue. In fact, those had been the days where he had not known that it was a lie at all. The days where he and Thor were both Æsir, sons of Æsir, and Princes to the Æsir throne. How ironic it was that, despite the fact that he was the heir to both the throne of Asgard and the throne of Jotunhiem, he was destined to be an outcast and never inherit his birthright or adopted right.

"Done with the pity fest, Rudolf?"

The voice came out of nowhere and Loki only recognized the source when he opened the eyes he hadn't realized he had closed and saw no one. Stark speaking through JARVIS's speakers was the most likely explanation but there was much about the human's technology that was lost on Loki, especially with Tony's special "improvements".

As a response to the query, Loki merely glared at the ceiling and refused to respond.

Stark chuckled back. "I'm heading up now that Itsy-Bitsy and Birdbrain are settled in." There was a short pause, almost as if Tony was waiting for a reply, but the wait was for naught. Loki was content to glare at the ceiling as if it was Tony Stark himself because how the Norns did Stark know of his reminiscing?

Of course, because this was Tony Stark that he was talking to the man had to laugh again and answer the question that he had just been thinking about. "And judging by the frown your wearing right now, I think the best thing to say is that one; you are surprisingly easy to read for a trickster, and two; you really must love Thor for all the cursing you do because you called him brother. Multiple times."

There was another pause but Loki decided to take advantage of the silence because this human seemed incapable of limiting his speech and because his mutterings, one of the few things that had kept him sane while in the Void, had given him away for the damnably understanding human to see. It's not like Tony Stark needed any help in unraveling his life story and piecing events together like a puzzle that made him Loki the Trickster, Silvertounge, and Lie Master. The human genius seemed to have a deeper understanding of Loki after just over a day then Thor did after a couple thousand years.

Once again, Loki's thought process was rudely interrupted by none other than Tony Stark waltzing through the door that had opened without a sound that could be heard over the boisterous noise of Stark's own voice. It was almost as bad as Thor. Almost but not quite. At least Tony Stark was human, therefore having some excuse for his actions, and was intelligent enough to hold a real conversation with.

"Honey, I'm home!" Stark sing-songed as he approached the raven-haired man perched on the end of the bed. A teasing grin graced Stark's face as he continued. "Miss me?"

Perhaps he had been too quick in his evaluation of this human. Intelligence was not the trait Stark was currently portraying. Not even close.

The lack of response from Loki only seemed to bring the human further amusement as Stark's grin widened further and the stupid genius came to slouch next to him on the edge of the bed. They were close enough to touch, leaving just enough room between them that it could have been accidental but with Stark, there left little doubt as to the intent.

The close proximity was meant, like the grin and words, to evoke irritation in Loki and the trickster quickly debated whether to lean closer and play Stark at his own game or to move away like he really wanted to and reveal his true opinion. In the end, he remained stationary.

Thankfully, after a moment Stark realized the game was up and moved away so that he could stretch himself out across the sheets. The unusually large size of the bed meant that even with the small human stretching his limbs to their fullest extent he would be no closer than he was before. There was an oddly companionable silence as they remained in their chosen positions and simply breathed quietly.

"You know you almost blew it today," Stark intoned quietly. His voice was in no way accusing, as if he did not wish to frighten Loki, and the intent was appreciated. There had been so much that he had and had not done in the past that had been blown so out of proportion that the punishments had been extreme, even among gods. The same tone, same words, that the Allfather and Thor had used on him the Other and Thanos had mimicked in torture. Just the very thought made Loki flinch.

Mistaking the flinch for his own actions, Tony sat up quickly and moved slowly towards the raven-haired man until he placed a warm, tentative hand on the trickster's shoulder. "There was never any real danger," Tony was quick to assure and Loki had to bite the inside of his mouth to stop from smiling. A human giving comfort to a god. A novel experience that Loki was sure would happen again. They were both, after all, broken men in their own ways.

"The cleaning bots got it before anyone could see it, I myself barely noticed it before it was gone but still. Natashalie and Legolas have been trained to notice weird stuff that shouldn't be there and the bandage," Tony's hand moved off Loki's shoulder and down to his side where it rested, a feather-light against his skin, "was definitely something that was not supposed to be there because there have been no real major battles since your little debut so I should not be injured in any way," Stark trailed off quietly after that but the inconspicuous hand still remained unmoved.

"By the way," the hand disappeared and Loki turned to observe the odd human as he rummaged around in his pockets before attracting a small, white bundle, "here are the bandages you ran away without." The tone of Stark's voice was teasing but the look in the chocolate eyes showed that there was true concern there. With a small incline of his head, Loki reached out to accept the bandages before Stark pulled his hand back.

"No. I'll do it."

If this blasted human continued to help him, even going so far as to comfort him, around every turn there would be no way to pay him back adequately and leave without teaching him the secrets of magic that he had learned over his years. Not that teaching the human would be completely horrid, Tony Stark was arguably the most intelligent of his species, but it had been drilled into his mind that revealing his tricks only got him ridiculed. That fate was almost worse than the physical pain that soon followed.

"Come on," Stark said teasingly, "let me help." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: February 22, 2018


	17. A Helping Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this chapter being a little late, life does not seem to understand that I need more time for writing and reading and easier homework. Oh well... I hope everyone enjoys!

_"Come on," Stark said teasingly, "let me help."_

o~*+*~o

Why it was such a struggle to get the injured god to accept even the smallest offer to help completely escaped the great Tony Stark for the longest time.

It wasn't that the problem was challenging, it really wasn't, but because his mind automatically wanted to shy away from thinking about Afghanistan. The reason the true answer evaded him so was because it was exactly like his own. There were so many other, less obvious and less like his own, reasons that could have caused Loki's reluctance. Of course, out of all of them, they would have to be the same.

Even before he had been kidnapped and tortured by men speaking in languages he didn't understand, even before he had been alone and unable to ask for anything unrelated to building the "missile" they required of him, he had hated having to need help. Howard, never father, had been the first one to drill it into his head as a small child. Tony Stark, young genius, had built his first circuit board at the tender age of four years old but Tony Stark, the failure son of Howard Stark, had his the first circuit board broken by his father after it was shown to him.

Any other father would have been ecstatic at what their son had accomplished, building a working computer at the age of four was an unheard of accomplishment, but Tony not only had to live up to his father's expectations but also to the image of a dead man. Captain America was the son that Howard Stark never had, the man that Howard always praised, the symbol of golden perfection that Tony tried so hard to achieve for so long but never got close to touching. How could a normal, if genius, human boy ever compare to the super soldier with a perfect moral compass.

Meeting the man in person after hearing story after story from the father he could never please had been disappointing to say the least. In the stories, Captain America was the protector, the shield against all evils, who defending the weak and the needy to make way for a better future. In reality, Captain America was just a man out of time, a man so full of righteousness that he walked around with a perpetual stick up his ass. Both Howard and Captain America did have one, very important thing in common though. They both had the same look of disappointment in their eyes when they looked upon him.

So the whole trust issues thing had been going on long before Afghanistan. Actually, Afghanistan was now the best excuse ever for his reluctance to ask for help. The only person he had ever truly asked for help from had been Ms. Potts. With Rhodey it had been more of a silent thing, a non-verbal conversation that either requested or rebuffed an offer for help, but with Ms. Potts it had been aloud and there until she had set it on the ground and smashed it with the pointy heel of her stilettos.

After Afghanistan, three months of torture, near complete solitude, and consuming fear, all the ideas that Howard had beaten into him had only been buried deeper into his psyche. Even to the point of death, he refused to ask for help. Rhodey had tried to do something but he never knew the true extent of the damage the palladium arc reactor was causing him. Ms. Potts hadn't even noticed. He really should have realized things were going to hell sooner but even geniuses are blind to love, real, fake, or mistaken.

Loki was so much like him in so many ways. The look on the injured god's face was the same as his own when he looked in the mirror after a beating from his father, after Afghanistan. They both had the same cocky, 'I am better than all of you' front that people believed so easily. If you had money and used it, or apparently magic too, everyone takes the narcissism as a natural thing that comes with the money. "Textbook narcissism" was what Natashalie had diagnosed him with and that is exactly what it was. Narcissism from the textbook, an act Tony had mastered performing. Loki had much the same gig going and that was why Tony knew he would win.

It took one to know one so if anyone could get the injured god to accept a helping hand, it would be him.

"Letting me help you is not going to hurt you."

At this remark, Loki only arched one eyebrow in question, as if letting Tony Stark bandage him up would actually pain him and wasn't the highlight of his life like it would be for most people. Then again, he wouldn't offer to bandage up just anyone. This was Loki, the trickster god who has next to no memories of the invasion he lead or was believed to had led. Thank god for green eyes and frost giants because now he could sleep on a fairly regular basis. His version of a daily basis.

What startled Tony out of his internal musings was how Loki suddenly turned to face him and raised his arms over his head, exposing his chest in silent permission. Trying his hardest not to ruin the moment, Tony moved forward and wrapped his arms around the injured god in a move reminiscent of a hug but wasn't. Really. It wasn't. Just because he had his arms were behind Loki's back to start bandaging from behind it wasn't a hug. Not at all.

Before Tony had wrapped the bandage even once around Loki's chest he stopped, pulled away and grasped Loki's shoulders to turn him around, finding less resistance to the move than he would have expected.

The man's back was one of the few things Tony had not gotten to check that first day because man the dude was heavy and he had somehow gotten the bandage around his torso while he had been laying down, he hadn't been about to take it off to check his back. The sight that met Tony's eyes when the god turned around made Tony almost happy he had not looked that first day.

Loki's back was a mass of red and purple. Where there were not pink stripes from a whip there were shiny red blotches from burns or blossoms of color ranging from purple to yellow in bruises. How a person could stand that much damage and pain was incredible and it suddenly made sense why Loki had passed out so quickly after laying on his back on the couch. While Tony had to give the injured man props for machoism, he couldn't believe how much had been hiding under the white linen.

Very slowly, Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out the salve that he had planned to use on the gash but, since that was sufficiently healed, he now had a definite better use for. The cream was one of his own making, a combination of a numbing liquid and a highly advanced version of Neosporin that helped facilitate the healing process while eradicating the pain. The only problem was that it was created with humans in mind and not frost giant gods with magic and there was no telling how it would react. Hopefully, it would help Loki heal without the magic he normally had at his disposal.

Loki flinched away as soon as his hand touched his back but quickly returned and pressed further back with a demanding look on his face. Apparently, it worked better on gods than it did humans. Just Tony's luck.

By the time the salve covered the injured man's back, the god was practically boneless because having the pain he had grown used to was a blessing above all others and Tony could definitely relate. For a short while, he had been able to walk around without the arc reactor sitting heavily in his chest and limiting him from breathing to his true capacity. It had been a beautiful dream that had not lasted.

His body had grown so dependent on the reactor that his body no longer made the heat that it normally would to maintain a normal bogey temperature, letting the arc reactor make it all, and the hole in his chest was worse than the arc ever was. In the end, he created an arc that was smaller. It allowed him to breath more fully, heat his body from the inside, and fill the hole in his chest but not in his heart.

Tony shook his head to rid himself of those despondent thoughts and looked back at Loki. Loki whose perfect posture was wrecked as he slouched over in bliss. Tony just knew that if the god turned around he would have a smile on his face.

"Come on, buddy. I need you to lift your arms again so I can wrap your torso."

Tony almost chuckled when, with a reluctant flop, the injured man regained his posture and raised his arms above his head in surrender. This time the not-hug was almost more awkward because his nose was practically brushing against the cool skin of the injured man's back, catching some of the recently applied salve on the tip. This was not the best thought through idea for a certified genius.

The fact that the injured god was actually conscious and sitting upright significantly improved the speed and quality of the bandage. Not that it had been bad before but it was definitely easier than bandaging himself. He had gotten a lot of practice doing that with Ms. Potts being absent.

Once the white linen had been wrapped snugly around the god's torso, completely covering the rapidly healing slash, Tony lingered close to the raven-haired man and checked over all the other, more minor, injuries the god had sustained. The mechanic's gentle hands ghosted over porcelain skin the was almost as white as the bandage and across the purple bruises that marred it. Those were healing at a significantly slower pace than the slash and Tony briefly wondered if it was Loki's body or magic's way of devoting its resources to the most needed source. Either way, this was a vast improvement from the man that had been laying on his couch just over 24 hours ago.

"Have you completed your examination, doctor?" Loki questioned, looking down at Tony with a raised brow like he was the crazy one and that made Tony chuckle softly.

"Almost," Tony said as he turned Loki back around, the god's complacency remaining. Dipping his fingers back into the jar of solution, Tony placed a small dot of the salve onto each of the larger bruises and contusions and gently rubbed them into the warmer than normal for a frost giant skin. The cream would not help the smaller injuries heal much faster but it would block out the pain until they had healed if it was applied enough.

After one last look over, Tony declared Loki as helped as he could possibly get, clapped his hands together, and looked up into Loki's piercing, emerald eyes. Tony froze. The urge to make a joke, move, or do anything to break the silence was oh so tempting but he didn't, couldn't. Loki was staring at him like he was looking for answers, answers that Tony had to have. They were the same questions that Tony had asked himself when he had looked into the mirror as a child.

"Thank you," murmured Loki, their eyes still locked, and while Tony heard the words he knew the real question was 'why are you doing this?'. Tony's smile was soft as he raised his eyebrows in silent inquiry, trying to get the raven-haired man to talk but not attempting to force him. That would just make the injured god close up tighter than one of his suits and it would be near impossible to get him to talk again. Answers were still to be had and, though the previous urgency had diminished slightly, Tony did need to know what exactly had happened the last time Loki, or at least Loki's body, had visited New York.

With an almost undetectable sigh, Loki's shoulders slumped forward in defeat but also curled inwards as if to protect himself from the response. "What game are you playing, Stark? Why help me when, from what I remember, I did nothing to earn your trust or compassion?" The raven-haired man glared out from under his locks as he spoke but Tony replayed that last part in his head in shock.

"This is the first I've ever heard of you not remembering anything from your previous, um, visit," Tony drawled sarcastically but careful to keep his voice light. Loki's position, however, remained completely unchanged.

"Would it have mattered?" Okay, that was a good point because Tony liked to think that even if Loki had said he remembered everything that the blue to green eyes and the number of injuries the guy had sustained would have convinced him to help anyway. Thinking harder, Tony might have helped Loki simply from seeing the pain the man had clearly been in, despite thinking that the man had thrown him out of a window with full control of himself.

"No, it wouldn't have," was Tony's response before pausing dramatically, the quiet after such a statement making Loki turn away from him, "because I would have helped you either way."

The look on Loki's face when he turned back around to face him just begged for evidence, begged Tony to prove to the injured man that what he was saying was true and not like all the lies he had grown up with.

"And why would you have helped a monster such as me?" Loki sneered right back at Tony and the mechanic knew that underneath all of the anger was a whole lot of fear and a bottomless cesspool of despair, that the anger was all a front but a very successful one. A front Tony knew intimately.

"Because I am a monster myself."

After that grand statement, Tony stood up from the bed to stand directly in front of the shell-shocked god.

"Merchant of Death at your service," Tony said with a bow and a slight flourish of his hand.

Silence was all that greeted him in reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: February 22, 2018


	18. Monsters are We

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos and/or a comment!!

_"Merchant of Death at your service," Tony said with a bow and a slight flourish of his hand._

_Silence was all that greeted him in reply._

o~*+*~o

To say that Loki was not stunned by Tony's sudden proclamation was like saying that Jötumhiem was not cold.

Tony Stark believed that he, a member of the beloved Avengers, was a monster like Loki. The very idea was laughable but since that didn't seem ideal for the moment he settled for shocked silence.

Everything that Loki could remember about the man during his previous visit only made him seem more brilliant and compassionate than what he had witnessed so far. The man had approached without his suits and had lacked any tells of fear that he should have shown. Even after he had been tossed out a window he had retained his special brand of confidence and brilliance as he was saved by his own creation. This man, this human man, had breathed life to wires in machinery in the form of JARVIS, something not even the gods could manage. How this man could ever consider himself a monster when he was considered by his world a hero was inconceivable.

Loki was still staring, his mouth slightly agape, at Stark when the man straightened up and looked him in the eye. It was in those eyes that Loki could see the haunted look that reflected back at him when he dared glance in a mirror. It was a similar look that Stark had worn when speaking of the betrayals in his past with the man Obadiah and Ms. Potts. It was the countenance of a man who had done something horrible and deeply regretted his choices, a man that was haunted each day by the ghosts of his past.

It was possible that Tony Stark was quite a bit darker than he had originally believed.

Loki decided he liked it.

"How did you come by that particular title?" Loki asked, stowing his surprise and his revelation for the moment.

"I asked for it," came Tony's reply, a wry grin crossing his lips. Loki's attempt at looking disapproving and disbelieving at once must have worked in some way because Stark laughed and moved to reclaim his seat next to Loki before explaining.

"About two days before I got this," Tony tapped the glass of the arc reactor lightly, "a reporter approached me to asked me a couple of questions. First, she asked how I felt being called the Da Vinci of the modern era. Da Vinci is a really famous painter that lived a couple hundred years ago so I said that it was a ridiculous name because I don't paint.

"The next name she threw out was the Merchant of Death. It was extraordinarily apt at the time because I used to be the top weapons manufacturer in the world and I made those weapons for the U.S. Army. I took on that title instead."

"And why are you not the top weapons manufacturer anymore?"

Stark was definitely smart enough to create anything he wanted and Loki highly doubted there could possibly be another human with the same brand of intelligence that Tony had. The only way a man like Tony Stark could lose was if he gave up or didn't care enough to try and Stark giving up didn't seem very plausible.

"Because the only weapons I make are either what I graciously choose to give to SHIELD, for my friends, or for the Avengers."

Loki had to refrain from grinning as his hypothesis was proven correct.

"What about your suits? Are they not weapons as well."

This time it was Stark that was suppressing a grin. Apparently, there was a story behind this one.

"That argument was taken to court and I still stand by the definition that my suits are not weapons but more of high tech prostheses."

"Prostheses?" Loki asked as he cocked his head to the side in confusion, frowning slightly.

"Like extensions of the body or a device that enhances the body's natural functions," Stark explained quickly, making a sharp gesture with his right hand as if he could brush the interruption away with the pass of his hand.

"I believe both sides are supported. Your suits run off of a power that let you live and enhance your natural abilities but the various weapons embedded inside the suit could classify it as a weapon itself."

"Ah, but riddle me this, Trickster," Tony sing-songed with a grin. "I created the suit and have been dubbed Iron Man by the general public. If you put a random civilian inside the suit are they then Iron Man?"

Realization dawned upon Loki as he finally saw what Tony meant.

"No, of course not."

To have anyone else in that suit would be a recipe for disaster. No doubt the interface for the suit was more advanced than Loki could imagine with his very limited knowledge on technology and bestowing that much power and knowledge upon a regular person would make them go mad from the power rush.

"Why," Tony asked in a near monotone voice that was absent of any inflection. Loki absentmindedly recognized that Tony was not looking ridiculously smug at getting Loki to realize something that the genius found so obvious and was grateful.

"Because you are Iron Man and therefore the suit really is more like the prosthesis you speak of."

It was only then that Stark seemed to allow himself to smile and, when he did, it was soft, merely a subtle curving of the lips.

"The suit and I are one. That is how I argued it in court and that's how I still have them. Well, that and saving the world a couple of times in the suits."

Loki flinched when he was reminded of just how he had gotten into this predicament in the first place, how he had been one of those people that Iron Man had saved the world from and how Loki had been given no say in the matter. He was reasonably certain that if he had been in his right mind when considering attacking Midgard he would have either done it right or not done it at all. Most likely the latter though because mortals, Stark excluded, were inconsequential and dim witted.

Tony, having picked up on Loki's train of thought, stood up abruptly and broke Loki away from his thoughts. "You want dinner?" Tony questioned quickly, as if trying to save Loki from his own thoughts. "I want dinner."

Loki shrugged noncommittally in response as Tony began to pace in front of him. It was not as if he had the knowledge of enough food items to choose one. So far the only human food he had tried, but had probably eaten during his previous visit and could not remember, was pizza. Only really have one item to choose from made picking favorites all the easier.

"Have you ever had a cheeseburger?"

"Not to my knowledge, no."

Loki's answer startled Stark so much that the man paused in his pacing to shoot him an incredulous look before continuing his steps at a more sedate pace.

"JARVIS this man has been deprived!" Tony exclaimed while flinging his arms in the air and staring at the ceiling in exaggerated anguish.

"Duly noted, sir"

"No cheeseburgers? Really?" Tony asked, turning back to Loki and staring at him with a look of dumb shock mixed with horror. Loki could only shrug in response.

"Asgard's good variety is essentially limited to what you humans would like eat in a feast. Meat, bread, occasionally fruit, with wine or mead." Unfortunately for Loki, wine or mead was held as an essential part of any mean and was often heavily overindulged. Loki had often been ridiculed for not partaking in the drinking games but at least he didn't make a drunken fool out of himself later.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Lokes but humans have a larger variety than that even on our feast days."

Stark paused in his pacing once again, his eyes widening comically when he faced Loki.

"You've probably never had fries either! Or a milkshake! Or tacos, or chips, or noodles, or shawarma! Or-"

"No, I have not had the pleasure," Loki quickly interrupted. With an affronted look, Tony turned to face the ceiling and placed his hands on his hips.

"JARVIS, order us some good old American cheeseburgers and make it at least two doubles with fries."

"Yes, sir."

Stark quickly resumed his pacing and for some reason looked more agitated than before. The strange human kept glancing up at the ceiling as if waiting for something that Loki knew not.

"Sir, Dr. Banner so requesting your presence in the labs."

JARVIS's voice successfully broke the tension, and the initial expression of confusion on Tony's face rapidly switched to from recognition to wariness.

"Really? He seemed completely absorbed when I left him."

Stark's pocket buzzed and he lifted out a small device, it's screen illuminating Tony's face in a pale blue glow and casting his features into sharp relief. After reading whatever had apparently appeared on the screen, Stark's face hardened and his mask slid over his countenance. It was both incredible and disturbing to see and Loki wondered if this was what he looked like when he did similar things.

"I guess I'll go check on Jolly Green."

Stark spoke as if to himself with a smile on his face that only looked forced to Loki because he was the god of lies and knew it was. With one last look at Loki that said 'Stay put', Stark walked out the door.

The click of the door was overrun by Stark's voice talking to someone just outside the door. It couldn't be Banner that he was speaking with, the voice was far too loud and fake for that, and Loki was almost certain he heard Stark say 'Natashalie'. Not even Stark could give such a ridiculous nickname to Banner who had the potential to be a rather large, green rage beast. On second thought, he would be the one to do it but Natashalie did not fit the man who held the beast in any way. It must be the spies then. If he was remembering correctly, the one named Black Widow's true name was Natasha.

With a sharp intake of breath, Loki realized just how close he had been to having his presence revealed. And if that in itself was not concerning enough, Tony had been the one to recognize that the spies would try to spy on him within the earliest available time frame. His thought process was once again interrupted by a voice, this time JARVIS's.

"Sir had invited you to dine with him in his laboratory."

Great, now he would have the dubious pleasure of trying a cheeseburger. The only flaw in the plan was the plan itself. How was Loki supposed to get down to the lab when he lacked magic or an escape route that would allow him to leave the room as being seen meant risking his existence.

"How am I-" Just as he began asking how he was supposed to bypass the spying spies without alerting them of his presence the closet door swung open.

"If you would step into the closet please," came JARVIS's calm voice from the ceiling.

With a skeptical look, Loki did just that.

As soon as he was inside Loki's doubts transformed into amazement almost as quickly as the closet became an elevator that quickly swooped downwards towards Stark's laboratory. There were certain perks involved when accepting help from a genius billionaire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: February 22, 2018


	19. Burgers and Banter

_"If you would step into the closet please," came JARVIS's calm voice from the ceiling. With a skeptical look, Loki did just that on for his doubt to transform into amazement almost as quickly as the closet became an elevator that quickly swooped downwards towards Stark's laboratory. There were certain perks involved when accepting help from a genius billionaire._

o~*+*~o

Tony had known the moment that Natasha had actually asked him, of all people, for help that at least her agenda diverted slightly from Clint's. Clint, Tony believed, was speaking truthfully when he said that he had been blamed for what he had done when being mind controlled and had been subsequently punished. Tony had actually verified the archer's claim that his bow had been confiscated and found it to be true. Schematics for a new and improved one were already floating around in his mind and in a semi-tangible hologram above his desk.

Natasha was an entirely different story. It was probably true that she had followed Clint when he had left, finally caving under SHIELD's incessant pressure and his own misguided guilt, but that she had cut ties with SHIELD wasn't. Nick Fury was practically the man that had raised her after the Red Room so her loyalty would always be to him first and Clint a close second. Fury had likely "suggested" that Natasha "observe" him, make sure he didn't do anything too stupid or dangerous without Ms. Potts, and ensure that Banner was tracked and contained. Not that Tony had any intention of any of that happening.

The first thing Tony had done after he had left the spies to scout out their rooms was notify Bruce that the spies were here and to stay in his lab for as long as he could or until Tony came and got him. Food was rather important though and patching Loki up hadn't taken that long so Tony believed Bruce was still sufficiently occupied in his state of the art laboratory and could wait a little longer.

It was only the quiet ding of his personal elevator alerting Tony of Loki’s arrival that tore the engineer from the blueprints projected in front of him. With a wave of his hand, the blue hologram dissipated and Tony spun his chair to face the raven-haired man, a crazed smile plastered on his face.

"Welcome to my true home and the place where my mind babies are born, Lokes!" The look that Loki returned to his was so confuzzled that Tony just had to laugh and did till there were tears in his eyes. If Tony hadn't been sitting down he would have been laying on the ground from laughter. By the end, Loki was standing over him with a concerned look on his face.

"Where is the food, Stark?" Tony looked up at the raven-haired man with a hurt look on his face, only his eyes betraying the mirth he truly felt as he looked up at Loki’s serious countenance.

"Is that the only reason you accepted my generous invitation? And here I was thinking that you had done it because you loved me for my mind," Tony pouted as he jumped into a standing position just in front of the god whose eyebrow was arched in an unimpressed look. The stupid deity was so ridiculously tall that he was still looking down on him ever when Tony raised himself to his full height and that only served to increase the disapproving expression that graced Loki’s face to an almost hilarious degree.

"It was you yourself that preached the incredibleness of the cheeseburger. I am intrigued." All of this was said with absolutely no infliction or feeling in the raven-haired man's voice. It was both impressive and comedic. Tony regretted picking himself off the floor now because he just might laugh himself right back down there. Luckily though, he did have some self-restraint and merely broke the staring contest he and Loki had started to grab the large paper sack on his desk.

"Here," Tony laughed with a genuine grin curving his lips as he reached inside the bag and handed Loki a random burger from its depths. "That one has the cheese and meat, obviously, but also tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, and mustard. No onions because that is a fate that I would not wish upon my worst enemy."

Loki, who had just begun unwrapping the burger, tipping his head forward to take a bite, when he paused to shoot Tony another one of those unimpressed stares that merely glanced off of Tony’s nigh on impenetrable emotional armour. "Ok, not really,” Tony conceded with a grin, “but I don't like them so I didn't get them. This stuff is probably going to end up being my brain food for the week."

"You 'brain food' is such unhealthy, grease filled items of food?" Loki inquired as he fiddled with the paper wrapping surrounding the burger while Tony grabbed his own, quickly folding down the paper and taking a large bite.

"Yep,” Tony mumbled before quickly swallowing and continuing. “I practically live off of coffee alone at times of pure brilliance, this is nothing,” Tony scoffed lightly as he took another large bite before using his burger to gesture towards Loki's untouched one.

"Now come on," Tony coaxed. "Take a bite."

It was with great hesitancy and caution that Loki approached the burger, gently bending his neck forward and taking a delicate bite. A bite that was quickly followed by a much larger one that the god chewed slowly, as if savoring the flavors. Despite the disappointing fact that the raven-haired man's eyes did not widen comically when he had first tasted the burger, the man adapted startlingly quick, it was still gratifying to see the man devour the new food with gusto.

"Such variety of flavor in one item is not found on Asgard unless it has been imbued with magic," Loki managed to say after he had consumed more than half of the burger. "This is quite good," Loki conceded with a slight incline of his head before slipping the last of the burger last his lips. Tony could easily imagine the god licking the grease and spilled condiments off of the tips of his fingers and lips with pleasure and almost laughed at the image.

"Quite good? Quite good is all you have to say about the American cheeseburger?" Tony yelped indignantly as he stared at Loki with an incredulous look. He did, however, refuse to stop eating the burger in his hand because even his incredulity did not outweigh his hunger.

"Yes." Loki’s statement was undermined by the way the man reached back into the bag holding the burgers and pulled out not one but two of them before retreating back towards a nearby worktable that he proceeded to hop up upon.

"JARVIS, remind me to show Lokes here cotton candy and ice cream. Get some of both ordered for us to have tomorrow." The grin Tony was currently sporting seemed to be crazy enough to make the raven-haired man uneasy as he dipped his head and continued to eat with a poise that only a god could retain while eating such a messy meal but Tony didn’t care. The genius could only imagine that if this was the reaction he got from savory food he could only dream of what sweet would do.

"Actually, what time is it, J?" Tony asked after the two had settled into a comfortable silence.

"It is 11:17, sir." The clear British voice from above shocked Tony from where he had turned back to fiddling with Mark 55 and Barton’s new bow and arrow set. He slowly turned his chair back to face Loki who had already eaten one of the two burgers he had taken. The must have been really hungry but it was the time that concerned him more.

"Oh," Tony said as he sat up straighter and heard the popping of his back, an easy sign that he had been sitting in his chair longer than he had thought. "Well, that explains why Natashalie was so surprised to see me."

It actually didn’t, Tony and Natasha both knew that his sleep cycle was anything but normal, but Tony was willing to let it slide this once because it threw the spies off of his trail. Apparently, Loki had caught onto this too because the man merely gave him a look and went back to eating.

Snatching the bag from where it had been resting on the edge of his desk, Tony quickly fished around before finding the last burger, unwrapping it, and taking a quick bite. "Best midnight snack ever," Tony moaned as he savored the last of this admittedly rare occurrence. He was now the CEO of SI as well as Iron Man, he could not afford to slack off on anything. Especially his health after all those years of drinking and regret.

Shaking off the dark thoughts with a twist of his head, Tony turned towards Loki and pointed at the now burgerless man. "You should be thanking me."

"You have my thanks," Loki drawled sarcastically back before standing up and gliding over to Tony’s desk, leaning against the back of the engineer’s chair to observe the blue holograms floating nearby.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Tony tilted his head as far back as he could to see Loki’s face as the man leaned over his head to get a closer look at the projections. A small smile quirked Tony's lips at the banter him and the mischievous god had together. If anyone would have told him this would happen just a couple of months ago he would have laughed and told Pep to see about getting them into a mental institution. Tony’s internal happiness dimmed slightly but his grin never faltered.

"No, of course not. For what reason would I ever be that?" Loki’s sarcastic reply to not being sarcastic was exactly what Tony needed. His smile as completely genuine again and all fond thoughts about Ms. Potts were gone. Odd that it was the God of Lies that knew exactly how to make the man of masks feel genuine. Just then Tony caught Loki glance down at him, the god’s lips twitching upwards ever so slightly in a childlike glee. Maybe it wasn’t so odd after all.

"You know if I had known you had a good sense of humor we would have gotten along a lot better a lot quicker." The two men's eyes met again, the stare breaking before anything important passed through, and Tony went back to tweaking the Mark 55 and Birdbrain’s things while Loki observed.

"Perhaps," Loki whispered from above him and if Tony concentrated really hard he thought he might just be able to feel Loki’s cool breath as it passed over the top of his head as the man leaned against the back of his chair. Oh, the wonderful coolness.

Tony relaxed further into his chair and changed the angle of the bow before responding to Loki’s rather vague comment.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You would have warmed up to me quicker but what do you have to offer me that you don't now?" The raven-haired man looked down at Tony with something akin to amusement in those emerald eyes, his long and inky locks framing his face as he tilted his head forward.

"That," Tony conceded after a moment of thought, "is actually quite a good point."

Tony nudged Loki in warning before spinning the chair around to face the man, genuine smiles, no matter how small or slight, gracing both of their faces.

"I do occasionally have those." Loki's eyes sparkling with an inner light that, if Tony didn't know better, he would have said was magic flickering in the emerald depths. Tony knew the feeling though. Weighing yourself up to a worthy opponent in this playful and loquacious way was a thrill, a tease.

It was a tease but a wonderful tease and all part of a wonderful game, a game that Tony hadn't been able to play in years. No one was ever intelligent or talented enough to banter with him but it seems he had found an equal in a god that was thousands of years older than him and the most powerful mage of practically ever. It was exhilarating.

"Yeah, I know. It's amazing you have any at all considering you were raised with people like Thor." Tony was oh so tempted to stand up from where he was sitting so that he and Loki would be inches apart and the energy between them would heighten. Tony could only dream of what would happen when magic got added to the equation.

The anticipation in waiting for Loki to regain his magic was becoming almost overwhelming, even though it had only been just over a day. Tony firmly believed that either witnessing Loki using magic in a non-malevolent fashion or possibly magic itself would get his nightmares to go away for good. After all, simply sleeping next to the frost giant had blessed him with a dreamless night. He just might have to keep the god around.

"Yes, I suppose it is," Loki replied smoothly, almost looking as if he were about to lean forward and loom over Tony in a completely threatening yet non-threatening way when a voice broke the rhythm between them.

"Sir, Dr. Banner is attempting to contact you. I believe he is growing concerned about his position." Both Tony and Loki looked up at the ceiling in surprise. After all, nothing short of a catastrophe should have been allowed to interrupt their moment of pure brilliance. Okay, maybe not pure brilliance but this was the first person Tony was able to feel relaxed around since the woman.

"That's fine," Tony said with a sigh. "I'll just get him, bring him down here and convince him to stay. Besides, now is as good a time as any." It was with that though that all of Tony's previous good humor returned with a vengeance. You don't get to rile up both Bruce, Hulk, and Loki all at once often.

"As you say, sir." JARVIS's tone was as disapproving as an AI's voice could be but resigned to merely watch as his creator tempted destruction upon himself once again. It was not the first time Tony flirted with death nor would it be the last. JARVIS did, however, make sure that he would have video evidence to hold against his creator if things went south.

"I don't remember programming you to sass me, J." Tony asked innocently as he kept up from his chair and practically skipped towards the door. When JARVIS made no reply, Tony gave one of the cameras a mock glare. "That's right. And stay quite."

"Am I to take the closet up again or something else?" Loki asked as he slowly began backing towards the door. The man had obviously caught onto the fact that something was about to happen that would not be pleasant be was either avoiding or denying the inevitable.

"Neither," Tony said firmly, halting the raven haired man's escape route and causing him to turn towards him sharply. "You're not going anywhere."

"It's time for you to meet the doctor. Your appointment is long overdue."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: February 22, 2018


	20. Have an Open Mind

_"It's time for you to meet the doctor. Your appointment is long overdue."_

o~*+*~o

Tony watched as the blood drained from Loki's face, making the pale god somehow paler than before. Tony savored this moment as much as he could because he knew that it would be one of the few things he would be able to hold over a magic filled Loki later. That, of course, was only if he somehow convinced Loki to stay with him after the god regained his powers. It was that melancholy thought that brought Tony back to the present.

"Don't worry! Nothing bad should happen-"

"-Should!" Loki exclaimed as he cut Tony off and took a large step back towards the cases of suits behind him.

"-and it would be reassuring for Bruce if he met you without your intimidating," Tony gestured wildly with his hand and completely ignored Loki's interjection, "magicalness."

Loki gave him an odd look of confusion after that statement but the slight confusion was nothing compared to the fear and anger it morphed into. "And where is my reassurance!" Loki exclaimed tightly, fear winning out against the anger with his powers conspicuously absent.

"That the more pitiful you look the more likely you are to get a new ally." Tony's upbeat suggestion seemed to help assuage none of the raven-haired man's fears. Though it was spoken in a joking manner, Tony really did mean it.

Especially when the god was this broken down, powerless, and injured, there needed to be someone other than just him to help. Tony knew that he could accomplish anything he put his mind to, with time, but that didn't mean he was the best person to get for understanding how to help a healing alien. Magic he could deal with and work with science but healing was just different.

"So you are my ally in this madness? Can't my ally simply leave me in peace?" Tony had to force back a smile at how oddly normal this was, despite Loki's panic. The sarcastic tone in the raven-haired man's voice seemed to lose some of its bite for Tony because it seemed Loki was just putting up a front now. The man, or god, was an incredible actor and it made sense him being the god of lies and deception.

"Of course I'm your ally, who else is going to keep my unnaturally hot body cool?" Tony couldn't resist the slight flirtation and definitely sarcastic tone he put into his words. It was his nature as a genius, billionaire, philanthropist, playboy to flirt with everything, especially death, even if nothing came of it. Loki took it all in stride, still refusing to move closer from his spot on the wall but relaxing into the conversation none the less.

"I don't know if you are being nice or simply complimenting yourself but you still haven't answered my question." Tony had to stop himself from giving his instinctive, sarcastic reply because he knew fear enough to know that Loki was really starting to feel it and that is not what Tony wanted.

"You want the truth? You are the only person who has answers and the only person who I can talk to without being sent to a psychologist or possibly an insane asylum," Tony said in the calmest voice he could muster, both to placate Loki and to rectify it with himself. He had always found that speaking his thoughts aloud made his ideas come quicker or come to an epiphany more rapidly and now it was helping him come to terms with something he didn't want to accept.

His answer and the calmness of his tone seemed to both surprise Loki and give the raven-haired man the answer that he had been looking for because he relaxed and actually took a few legitimate steps forward. "There is also the added bonus of you being interesting, genuinely smart, and not too hard on the eyes," Tony continued as Loki's long legs shortened the space between them until Loki's emerald eyes were right into his chocolate ones.

"Thank you." Struck by both the words and the sincerity, Tony took pity on the obviously confused man. Yes, there was a small part of him that reveled in being able to make a god fear him but he didn't really want Loki to be scared of him or of his intentions.

"But I really do think you need another person to help you other than me, I'm an engineer not a doctor, and Bruce can surpass even me in some areas of science, especially the ones involving the body. His quest to rid himself of the hulk has taught him a lot about the human genome, mutations, and even non-human characteristics."

Tony really did want Bruce's help even as he loathed to expose his newest and best form of entertainment and information. The god was truly a godsend. Before Loki's arrival he had slept a maximum of seven hours that week and with the raven-haired man, and the subsequent knowledge and reconciliation that he brought, he was able to sleep through an entire night.

"Are you positive that this is a good idea, Stark?" Loki asked, confidence saturating his tone with the slightest hint of deference dipped in as well. Tony supposed it only made sense that, without his powers, Loki would have enough sense to let the one with the knowledge lead.

"Relatively," Tony started off just to tease Loki the tiniest bit more but when he managed to gain a small smirk on Loki's face he turned serious. "Maybe you should take off your shirt so your injuries are more visible." It would hurt to work the more vulnerable part of the image Tony wanted to create for Bruce, a deterrent to any hulk-like tendencies.

"Don't mess up the bandage though, I worked hard on that!" The fake hurt look that Tony threw onto his face elicited a sharp laugh from the raven-haired man that made Tony grin widely in turn before he turned and made his escape before Loki's good mood was lost.

"Have fun with the bots while I'm gone!"

The parting shot called over his shoulder met a startled Loki who's head twisted sharply only to see the door of the elevator close in front of a waving Tony. The expression of both amusement and (half) faked betrayal that graced Loki's face had the engineer in stitches as he gasped out for JARVIS to lockdown the lab. It wasn't that he thought Loki would try to get out of the meeting, he only sort of did, but it was meant to keep the spies out. Even the vents would not be safe for Clint if he tried that route.

It wasn't long until the elevator reached the correct floor and, because this was the special elevator, it bypassed the whole having to knock or have a code to get inside and opened a hidden door that was cleverly concealed inside one of the reinforced pillars scattered through the room. All of the pillars, excluding the one hollowed out into an elevator, were meant to reinforce both the lab space and the floor above and below if the Hulk came out to play.

Tony trusted both the Hulk and Bruce with his life but what he didn't trust was that someone else would be stupid enough to try and stop the Hulk and scare him in the process. The Big Guy knew Tony well enough but he genius had the feeling that the two spies would not be nearly as welcome.

The first thing Tony saw after he jumped out of the elevator was the sight of a snoring scientist who was slumped over one of the nearby lab tables. The child inside of Tony could not help but be disappointed that all of the ninja skills he had used to keep the elevator hidden was all for naught. The disappointment, however, was nothing compared to the enthusiasm that filled his voice as he shouted wake the other man up.

"Brucie!" It was probably years of living on the run that allowed Bruce to straighten up and pull off a beautiful facade of consciousness that would have fooled Tony is not for the glaring fact of how unfocused the doctor's eyes were.

"Where have you been?" Bruce mumbled as he slid smoothly off of his seat and stumbled over to where Tony stood, his impatience rolling off of him in waves and coalescing in the form of the incessant tapping of his foot.

"Helping someone." Tony really should have guessed that kicking Bruce's doctoring mindset into gear would be the best way to wake him up. As soon as Tony mentioned helping someone, the doctor's eyes instantly cleared as the man shook himself to wake up.

"Is someone hurt?" Bruce asked quickly as he quickly looked over Tony for blood or contusions to try and weigh the unknown situation ahead. Tony merely chuckled quietly as he watched the sleepy man quickly change into the concerned doctor.

"Yes, but before we go down I need you to promise you will walk in with an open mind." As much as Tony tried to put as little weight on his words Bruce was still able to sense the hidden depth. The origin of the uncanny ability was unknown but Tony thought that maybe, just maybe, it had to do with the Hulk. Either way, the other man tensed and narrowed his eyes at the comment, take the smallest of steps back.

"Tony," Bruce began in a wary tone, "what did you do?" Tony knew the other man well enough to read that it was not Tony that Bruce feared but the loss of the safeness Tony and his assets represented. Sure, the man had only been at the tower a couple of hours, but Tony had spent months trying to convince the man to come in the first place. Now that he had it, Tony would give anything and everything to keep the trust and respect they cultivated. Unfortunately, that also meant he had to tell Bruce the truth to keep and nurture this trust. Loki was not a secret one could keep for very long.

"Nothing too horrible, promise." The unbelieving look that Bruce shot Tony didn't just bounce off of him like everything else because Bruce was different and the disbelief actually hurt him. There were very few who could do that and Tony hoped that the meeting between Bruce and Loki would help Bruce trust him, or at least believe him, a bit more.

The hurt that Bruce had inflicted was slightly mitigated by the softness in the other man's eyes, revealing care and a spark of trust. Tony needed to fan that flame because he had already lost one of the people closest to him and he wasn't willing to lose Bruce as well. He would much rather bring him closer because he knew how much help allies meant in a war.

"Honestly!" Tony yelped indignantly. "He just showed up at the tower, bleeding, and so I helped him but I'm not a doctor so I want you to look over him."

Bruce nodded, pushed his glasses up, and massaged the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger. This brief display of exhaustion and tension struck Tony as being oddly normal. He was not the best person to set the bar line for a normal human; his sleep schedule was erratic, his IQ rivaled Einstein, and he had trust issues so severe that had learned to act like a narcissist to cover it up, but Bruce was normal.

With the notable exception of the Hulk living inside of him.

"Just promise me you will stay calm," Tony pleaded softly as he looked into Bruce's eyes but actually speaking to the creature that lived inside. It was a good thing that Bruce didn't take offense to the statement and simply wandered back over to the lab table he had been lounging on and started collecting various implements.

"You won't need any supplies or anything, my lab is pretty well stocked." Tony might even go so far to say that his laboratory was filled with better medical devices than a hospital but most to all of them were modified specifically so that the arc reactor would not mess with the scans of his body or built to fix damage to the reactor and the casing. Not things that an everyday hospital would require.

Tony then took Bruce's shoulder and led the man to the hidden elevator. He wanted to surprise the man with it later by showing up randomly to get some time to bond with Golly Green but this would be the quickest way and the spies would never know. There were a few perks to being able to design your own tower and have enough money and smarts to install a lift on your own. Having a suit that could carry a couple tons definitely helped. Not even Mrs. Potts knew about the installation.

As the seamless doors to the elevator slid soundlessly open, Bruce's sleepy eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't know that you had an elevator around here." The admiration and approval in the other scientist's voice warmed a cold and neglected place in Tony's heart. Howard Stark had never looked at his son in approval and Stane's had been a ploy for power but Bruce was genuine and it was (one of the best things Tony would never admit to feeling) nice.

"Are you kidding? I have them everywhere, along with my suits." The joking tone played off the paranoia in the message.

In reality, Tony had begun placing suits around the tower after he had made the bands to call them to him. Before that, there were various guns and even knives placed in various places that no one ever knew about. He was a weapons designer; he designed, created, and tested each of the weapons he made and knew how to use them. Too bad he hadn't thought to put something, anything, close to the couch but the paralysis would have made it moot anyway.

"Hold the lift, J," Tony requested quietly, internally lingered over the memories of inevitabilities, as he turned to the man beside him.

"I need you to promise me to let me and him explain before you do anything rash in there. I have projects in progress so no damage is necessary." Bruce nodded in reply but the tightening around his eyes hinted at the frustration he felt. Then came the question that Tony knew was coming.

"If you're so worried then why are we even doing this?"

"Because I do trust you, more than anyone else," Tony said with a shrug, hoping the casualness and the truth in his words would call the man beside him as well as the significantly larger one within.

"Plus, this is more for my guest's benefit," Tony gestured to one of the corners of the elevator where a camera about the size of a pinhead rested, "than anyone else." The feed from it and the ones in Bruce's lab had been relayed down to the lab to relax the anxious god below, courtesy of JARVIS.

Recognition alighted upon the good doctor and he relaxed back into his original position, comfortably leaning against the back wall of the lift. "Okay, if you are sure."

Tony made sure to be standing directly in front of Bruce when the doors opened, just for cautionary purposes, but there was nothing there. Loki was nowhere to be seen but with all the cars, suits, and other machinery it wouldn't be that hard to hide. Tony carefully relaxed his posture, hoping his countable would influence the other men's and walked slowly towards the center of the room.

"Come on out Loki, it's just me and Bruciekins here," Tony coaxed and watched out of the corner of his eye as Bruce flinched at the name, froze in place, and immediately clenched his eyes shut and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Tony," Bruce whispered as he opened his eyes that, Tony noticed, were completely brown and lacked even the tiniest hint of green. Bruce's control was really something.

"What, exactly, is Loki doing in your laboratory?" The words were not as tight as Tony had anticipated but hinted at Tony's possible lack of all sanity and self-preservation. Which was completely false because he did have some of his sanity or else none of his inventions would be feasible.

Tony turned and took a step closer to Bruce with his hands out and his mouth open to explain the chaos was two days ago because it was past midnight and the start of a new day when what came out was not the explanation he had carefully crafted just minutes earlier. His words, however, were muddled and mixed with another's as he and Loki spoke at the same time.

"Saving me."

"Being saved."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: February 22, 2018


	21. Patching Things Up

_"Saving me."_

_"Being saved."_

o~*+*~o

Silence.

Loki had really been expecting more smashing by this point.

Instead, there was a silence that remained unbroken even as Tony and Banner turned to face him. Banner's face was in such a perfect state of neutrality that even Loki had a hard time distinguishing the battle inside from behind the mask, but it was Stark that caught Loki's attention. Tony Stark was wearing a facade that was so paper thin it was almost as if it wasn’t there. Genuine surprise showed on his face and that quickly transformed into genuine concern when Tony's eyes alighted upon Loki, who knew his face revealed his confusion at Tony's words.

The entire time Loki had spent waiting for Stark to return was spent with his attention divided between the security footage of Tony and Banner and imagining increasingly bleak scenarios of this exact situation. Concealment was quickly deemed the best option and Loki had taken up a position behind some peculiar looking robots that consisted of merely an arm with a claw attached to the end.

Loki considered himself lucky that the video hologram of Tony and Banner moved with him as he sat quietly behind the unmoving robot and that JARVIS did not reveal his position to Tony when the man entered the room. In retrospect, it was also fortunate that Tony was considerate enough not to ask JARVIS but instead to ask Loki, politely, to come out.

It had been the lack of green in Banner's eyes when his name had been mentioned that had motivated Loki to step out into the light. He had already removed his shirt, per Stark's request, but had only gathered enough courage to reveal himself, not to create a perfect facade of vulnerability. The truth was what he spoke when he stepped towards Tony but the words the engineer spoke were confounding.

It was Loki's belief that Stark wanted to portray him as vulnerable and helpless, not as a helpful individual but as one who needed help. The words Stark spoke were also false; there was no way that he could be helping the other man but thinking back there was. Tony was always so adamant that Loki was his salvation in the form of information and understanding from the nightmares that Loki understood more than anyone else because he had lived it, just like Tony had.

Confusion quickly transformed into realization and Loki understood, quickly shifting his expression into something more meek before Banner found anything off about it. It was no use concealing it from Tony, though; the man was too sharp to miss it.

Banner's initial reaction to him, indifference, changed as the man shifted not into the beast as he had imagined but into a concerned doctor; the man's brown eyes no longer saw Loki, the insane madman who attacked New York, but Loki, an injured and magicless god that needed medical attention.

The doctor brushed right past Tony, taking slow and deliberate steps as if approaching an animal ready to bolt. Loki both appreciated and despised the consideration Banner was giving him because he was a god with magic and did not want to be treated like a scared child, but a scared child was essentially all that he was now that his magic reserves were depleted, his body injured, and with no weapon other than words as he stood stiffly in front of the creature that could debilitate him when he retained his magic.

Loki was mildly surprised when Banner did not touch him, did not poke or prod at the wounds that were immediately visible. In fact, the doctor didn't touch him at all, only ghosted his palms over his skin, hummed quietly, and then inspected the wrapping of the bandage around his torso before taking a step back. Placing his hands on his hips, Banner twisted back towards Tony and have the engineer a small smile and an approving nod.

"So how'd I do, Doc?" Tony asked with a grin that was only half faked as he slyly slid between Loki and Banner, giving the raven-haired man room to breathe easily. With Tony between them, Loki could finally assess Banner like he had wanted to, needed to, before because this was the man that had gained even a tiny sliver of Tony's trust and that was quite a difficult thing to do.

The doctor rolled his eyes and dropped his arms back to his side as he turned back to Loki and replied. "From what I can tell you did a fantastic job."

Loki watched as Tony began to preen like a peacock under the compliment, and the surprising thing was how genuine it looked, and likely was. Either Tony had been playing the narcissist far longer than Loki had thought or the man had been starved for attention early in in his life.

"A fantastic job for a civilian," Banner added cheekily as he turned to face the engineer, a ploy to cut down Tony's ego, but Loki noticed the deliberate way that the doctor reached out to Tony, as simple as placing a hand on the man's shoulder, after his remark and how the man's eyes deliberately softened.

In response, Tony's smile was less strained but the small remnants of a chipped mask hardened over and seemed to sink into Stark's skin to where the mask and man were indistinguishable Loki had to wonder what parts of himself Tony had chosen to hide from Banner. Likely the same part that made the man crave affection so.

"Now you're just pulling my leg. I know for a fact that that bandage is nigh on perfect!" Tony exclaimed, a bright, slightly strained, smile stretching across his face but Loki knew he was the only one who saw the less genuine side of the smirk. Tony Stark was the master at this game but he was the god.

"Okay, Tony. I will admit that the bandage would be perfect if Loki hadn't been moving so much throughout the day but what I meant by fantastic job was these bruises." Bruce moved next to Stark, still not touching Loki but again ghosting his palms over the marred skin.

"The normal heat that would be radiating from these wounds is absent and there is little to no swelling on the injuries that should be twice the size they are now." Bruce took his hands away and looked questioningly at Tony. "Was this his magic or was it you?"

Loki quickly, but indiscreetly, ducked his head down to avoid both Banner’s gaze and to avoid having to answer such a question. Such things were best left for Tony Stark to explain and subsequently brag about.

The path of silence was quickly overrun by an even larger silence that filled the room, creating a tension that Loki itched to break. The raven-haired man wanted dearly to be able to glare at the enigmatic inventor that now stood beside him as both of the men patiently, or not in Stark’s case, for his answer.

With a soft sigh of defeat that only Stark would have caught, the god relented. “While my magic may have some influence on the injuries, a significant portion of the healing process has been accelerated by the concoction that Stark had available.”

Loki paused a moment to observe Tony is his moment of celebration, a quiet fist pump in the air accompanied by a sharp “I told you so!”. Banner merely raised an eyebrow that clearly said that Stark had said nothing of the sort but shrugged it off with a practiced ease of a man who holds no grudges.

“However,” Loki began, a small smirk tugging at his lips, “my core temperature is significantly lower than a human's so the heat that normally accompanies such wounds would not occur with me. My body naturally gets colder when injured so it is not the lack of heat but the lack of cold emanating from the tender skin that is so valuable.”

Banner nodded once in acknowledgment, adjusting the glasses perched on his nose, before slowly scanning the room and dragging a wheeled chair from a corner to slouch in. Tony, Lik noticed, glanced quickly from the cushioned chair to Loki and back to the chair before hopping up onto the cluttered work table behind him, swinging his legs like the child he was.  
Loki quickly claimed a mostly empty spot on the same table and resisted the urge to slouch next to Tony, the dull throbbing of his injuries now making themselves known after the adrenaline from meeting Banner wore off.

The silence that now reigned was not filled with tension but rather held the weight of a soft cloud, lulling the men to sleep in its gentle caress.

Of course, the only man that was not affected was Stark, who remained kicking aimlessly at the closest leg of the table, rarely hitting it. Just when the temptation of sleep seemed too much for both Banner and Loki, Tony broke the sweet silence with a grin that was obscenely large and far too happy as he ripped the other two men away from sleep.

“Hey Lokes, Brucie. Did I ever introduce either of you to my kids?”

Now they were awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: March 7, 2018


	22. Meeting The Kids

_“Hey Lokes, Brucie. Did I ever introduce either of you to my kids?”_

_Now they were awake._

o~*+*~o

Tony valiantly attempted to hold back his laughter but really, who was he kidding, he didn’t even bother trying to stop his chuckles from escaping. After watching the ever composed Bruce snap up from his seat, going from almost sleep to near awareness in 1.84 seconds, and Loki turn to face him at an agonizingly slow pace, bewilderment clear as day, there was little that could hold back his amusement.

"Your 'mind babies'?" Loki questioned softly, a smile tugging at the god's thin lips. Damn Loki for being so quick to pick that up, but luckily the raven-haired man had spoken quietly enough that the only thing Bruce looked was more confused so Tony's amusement was not dampened one bit.

"Dummy, You, Butterfingers! Come out and meet our guests!" Tony shouted as he hopped down from the table and the room exploded with noise and motion.

Looking over his babies, his rightly named "mind children", he saw them as older as they once were, despite their shiny new frames. His bots had been through so much; they had seen him grow up, had been his only friends as a young adult, and had suffered the loss of their original frames in the fight with the Mandarin; yet they were still children in his mind. Tony spread his arms wide and let out a genuine laugh as he watched his creations race towards him in their new, exhilarating bodies.

Dummy, his first creation who acted like the youngest of the four, had his form relatively unchanged but he was less bulky, more streamline, and had more space in his storage. Despite the upgrades, Dummy retained his horrifying love for fire extinguishers and was still one of the clumsiest bots.

Tony hadn't had the heart to change the original design too much so the frame had remained arm-like but made with his gold-titanium alloy instead of boring old steel, tarnished and painted black so that the gold was not visible. The camera that Tony had stupidly placed in a low visibility spot while at MIT remained in the same place but he had spent years arguing about ways to improve visibility for Dummy but he had always stubbornly refused to accept anything so he knew that Dummy was content. After all, Dummy wasn't Dummy if he wasn't a dummy.

You came as a close second to Dummy, being created merely two years or so after. You was the twin of Dummy is shape but was significantly slimmer and the gold-titanium alloy was tarnished till it was silver and dusted a light gray. You was more dexterous than Dummy, his camera in a better place, and the thinner, lighter frame made You look taller than Dummy. It didn't help that Dummy slouched a lot.

Butterfingers was only about a year younger than You, the youngest other than JARVIS, but he was the older brother to the others despite his knack for dropping almost everything he could get his claw on. He was the shorter version of You, as they were both similar in color and shape, and the one with the smallest claw, the one that looked like long and spindly fingers. The disadvantage of having the claw that could pick up the most was that it had the least grip out of the three AI's with bodies.

Despite that lack of a physical form, JARVIS was the most advanced AI that he has programmed to date and acted as the older brother and advisor to Dummy, You, and Butterfingers. If Dummy, You, and Butterfingers were his children then JARVIS was the brother he never had.

Dummy was, unsurprisingly (his wheels had just been oiled), the first to roll up to him, quickly followed by Butterfingers and You. Together they formed a circle around Tony and each vied for their creator's attention while the other two men watched in confused fascination.

Bruce had obviously read some of the information on him from MIT and knew that the robots were equipped with an advanced AI system but appeared amazed to see them in person and witness the way they interacted. Loki, despite being almost or as fast a learner as Tony himself, was new to the world of Midgard tech and had only recently been introduced to JARVIS. The others were far different.

While basking in the bombardment of his brilliance, Tony carefully observed both Bruce and Loki's reactions to his most precious inventions, right up there with his reactor and suit. The incessant beeping that filled the room was a language that Tony had invented at MIT and remained his secret alone. Not even Ms. Potts had ever had the joy of understanding his babies.

"All of you, slow down!" A series of beeps and Tony turned to Dummy and patted his claw, the robot butting the hand back like a dog. "I know, you did a great job-" More chirps and Tony twisted towards You.

"You were not involved, You!" Another series of indignant chirps. "Well if you want to, Loki is free now." More beeping and Tony turned towards the shortest robot. "No, I haven't forgotten about you, Butterfingers," Tony said soothingly as he watched You enthusiastically roll over to Loki, stopping in front of the god who remained perched on the workable overlooking the scene.

One of the things Tony loved most about his mind was his ability to multitask. This came in especially handy when introducing your "brain children" to a mage who once tossed him out a window. It was a good thing that this god was reformed and magicless.

Tony reassured Butterfingers that no, he was not forgotten, and yes, they would all have their turn with their new guests. In response to that remark, Dummy promptly rolled himself over to Bruce, who was now smiling along with Tony while something akin to understanding flickered in his eyes. While watching Dummy's interactions with the calm of Bruce was interesting, Loki's reaction to You was far more fascinating.

Most people do not know how to react to any AI, no matter how primitive, so they treat it like they would any other machine. In other words, they treat them as the kings and queens of old treated servants or slaves, without thought. AI's are so much more than mindless servants; the very name implies more than a simple computer program. AI's have their own thoughts and ideas, can learn, and have feelings.

Tony Stark was proud that he could call himself the first and only person on Earth to have built an AI program, but Asgard was a mystery. Thor could not understand a device as simple as a toaster but had only been shocked when he had heard JARVIS for the first time. Thor had complimented Tony on his accomplishment and had asked how he had harnessed the spirit that lived in his tower and it seemed like Loki had roughly the same idea in his head.

"Greetings," Loki said warmly and You's claw twirled in excitement and a series of bright chirps emanated from the bot. Loki smiled softly despite not knowing what the robot had said to him and Tony had to hide a laugh by crouching behind Butterfingers. The god of mischief had no way of knowing that You was the feisty one or that he had just insulted the god on Tony's behalf.

"You, I believe it was," Loki continued softly, glancing sharply in Tony's direction for confirmation and receiving a nod from the inventor and a sharp beep from the bot. "You are quite an incredible..." Loki paused for a short moment as if trying to find the correct word to describe the brilliance that Tony's mind had formed. "An incredible being, You."

In that one description, Tony was forced to change a good portion of what he assumed about Loki. Not only is the god considerate and compassionate, he is more. No one has ever understood immediately that the AI's he programmed were more than just coding, their own beings, without lengthy explanations that were ultimately useless.

While Bruce seemed to accept the fact that Tony considered his creation his children and could appreciate the intelligence they embodied through the eyes of a fellow scientist, he could not understand the feeling of bringing an intelligent being into existence. It an odd way, this was just another similarity between Loki and Tony. Loki had probably learned how to imbue things with a spirit, an entity, with his magic, a practice that took a great deal of power and intelligence if what Thor hinted at was to be trusted.

A series of shrill tones shocked Tony out of his musings to the sight of Dummy stretching towards a fire extinguisher and Bruce, with a concerned look on his face, grabbing the extinguisher and giving it to Dummy. It seemed like Bruce had taken to Dummy much quicker than anticipated. Now his bots would have humanoid friends other than Tiny and Rhodes and would be spoiled more they already were.

"No, Dummy!" Tony shouted into the quiet and shattering the peace that had tentatively settled. A low note resonated through the silent room and the fire extinguisher dropped with a crash as it was released from Dummy's grip.

"I know you love the fire extinguisher but there are no fires and there are better ways to make friends, no matter how much I approve of spraying people with white foam that aren't me," Tony kindly explained to the dejected Dummy, the bot immediately perking up and chirping inquisitively and cocking his claw, and therefore his camera, in question.

"Well, to start off your rather creative insults are lost on the idiots so please stop trying. Know when the crowd is too hard or completely oblivious." The odd mixture of indignant sputtering, moaning low notes, and laughter echoed in the room, leaving smiles on everyone's faces.

"Second," Tony started before pausing and spreading his arms and smile for dramatic effect. "Bring them down to our level for a little chat."

The extinguisher made a beautiful reappearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: March 13, 2018


	23. From Great Minds Hatch Great Plans

_"Second," Tony started before pausing and spreading his arms and smile for dramatic effect. "Bring them down to our level for a little chat."_

_The fire extinguisher made a beautiful reappearance._

o~*+*~o

Dummy, in a fit of absolute brilliance, had picked the extinguisher from where he had dropped it and was using it to threaten Loki and Bruce down from their perches to the ground while You and Butterfingers grabbed at Bruce's shirt and Loki's pants legs.

The half-hearted attempts that Loki and Bruce put up in resistance lightened the mood considerably, turning the discussion into a game that it practically was for Tony. The group; human, god, not-human, and AI; all sat in a ragged circle, fitting for ones of their character, making the conversations that sparked up even more relaxed and casual, despite most of them being one-sided to Loki and Bruce because they couldn't understand his babies.

It was a beautiful sight; all of the people that he could call friends, or at least people that knew his life story and could relate or at least didn't go running for the hills, all in one place with his most precious inventions and keepers. The only one missing was Rhodey, but he was doing important military stuff so he could be excused.

Loki looked oddly regal sitting next to him on the ground, cross-legged and straight-backed, while Bruce looked more relaxed and had one hand resting on Dummy, petting him. The robot was purring, or at least doing the robot equivalent, under the attention and Tony knew they would be practically inseparable.

Tony was the complete opposite of the god next to him as he was practically curled over himself in a slouch. His face did not reflect his relaxed position, however, because now was time to spring the actual bad news on Bruce and Loki, the other scientist already knowing part of the problem.

"Okay," Tony started, clapping his hands once to get everyone's attention. "To kick this meeting off, I'm just gonna start by telling you all of the bad things and then tell you my plan."

While Bruce nodded his head once in agreement and snatched his classes for cleaning when he dipped his head, Loki arched one of his eyebrows. "Are we going to have any input into this plan of yours?"

"Yes and no," Tony said with a grin in response. "The plan is already in motion but everything after this moment you both will have input in." Loki nodded sharply and Bruce placed his clean glasses back on his nose.

"So, the bad thing is that the rest of the former Avengers are all either planning on or being coerced into living here at the tower and making good on the offer I threw out at the end of the battle. Sometimes I wish I didn't let my mouth run away from me." At the last part, Tony let a wry smile twist his lips but it was mostly fake. 87.97% of the time opening his mouth was the way people underestimated him and got him out of some sticky situations. "Three guesses as to who wants more people in my tower."

"SHIELD," Loki and Bruce both murmured without pause, surprising each other in the quickness. With quick glances at each other out of the corner of their eyes, the two men fidgeted and Tony smiled.

"Got it in one." With the attention back on him and the mood far more somber than before, Tony straightened his spine and adopted the look that had gained him his new label as the toughest CEO Stark Industries has ever seen. It would do good to make it seem like this plan had taken effort when he had actually created strategies to counter every possible scenario he could think of right after revealing to the public he was Iron Man.

"Normally this would not be a problem but this time there is you," Tony pointed his finger at Loki, his finger so close that the god practically went cross-eyed to look at the finger, “and I'm going to need allies." Removing his finger from the irritated mage’s proximity, Tony turned his gaze towards Bruce and neatly ignored to fuming man next to him.

"JARVIS has always got my back and so do the others,” Tony said as he gestured to his bots with bodies,” but Bruce," Tony turned his pleading eyes to the timid scientist, taking care to add just the right amount of shine to convince but not overdo, "you're going to have to be my eyes and ears when I can't be because, even though JARVIS can record any and all conversations anywhere on Earth, er, Midgard, you and Jolly Green are great judges of character."

As much as Tony hated using such an underhanded method to convince Bruce to take a more forward role, he knew that it was also a fantastic opportunity to give the man some confidence that he sorely lacked at the present. Taking the risk and turning his gaze back to the god he had insulted, Tony was met with a glare that convinced the engineer that if Loki had his magic he would be in a world of hurt.

"Those were harsh circumstances and you weren't exactly you at the time," Tony explained, not exactly apologetic but both men knew that neither would feel the apology was genuine.

"Indeed." It was a good thing that being the god of lies and mischief allowed the raven-haired man to catch the underlying meaning of his words far quicker and easier than any other being so all it took was a tilt of the head and a nigh on imperceptible nod and everything was back to normal.

“I don’t know, Tony,” Bruce said as he looked down at his hands in his lap. Refusing to give up on the man because the scientist couldn’t see what he saw, Tony turned his best puppy dog eyes on Bruce to see the man’s face soften almost immediately.

"You wouldn't have to do it for long, just until Rock of Ages gets his mojo back." Tony paused and watched as Bruce wavered, meeting his eyes before snatching his glasses off of his face and cleaning them with increased vigor.

"How long do you think that will take by the way?" Tony asked as he turned back to Loki and left Bruce to catch his breath and make up his mind. When the coffee brown of Tony's eyes locked with Loki’s emerald green, however, a completely different conversation than the one that was spoken aloud occurred.

The question’s that Loki was asking were not things Tony could answer with the company present, or could ever possibly answer, so he was left locked in a stare, unable to reply, while Loki supplied his answer to the spoken question.

"Anywhere from four days to a week. There is also the unknown factor of the salve that you applied. It is possible that I should have recovered enough of my 'mojo' for a spell within another twenty-four hours." With a final look that told Tony that they would be having a talk later, Loki released the inventor from the stare and turned to stroke You, who was parked beside Loki, completely ignoring that rest of them.

"Fantastic!" Tony exclaimed as he allowed a large grin the stretch across his face. If Loki got his magic back quicker, the plan would be able to run far smoother than it would now.

Magic would allow Loki to stay hidden and safe, keeping the rising pressure off of Bruce, and allow Tony to make the deal that he had been wanting to make with Loki all along. There was also the added bonus of finally getting answers and explanations from the god because the man owed him. Tony resisted the urge to laugh at the thought of having, arguably, the most powerful god in debt to you.

"Wait, I think I'm missing something," Bruce broke in with a skeptical frown turning the corners of his mouth down ever so slightly. "Why are Agents Romanoff and Barton and Captain America all being coerced to come here by SHIELD?"

Tony huffed out a sigh before quickly inserting his own words. "You forgot about the Winter Soldier, Cap's frozen friend, but I thought it was obvious." Tony looked back and forth from Bruce to Loki, the latter’s face practically inscrutable. "Anyone?" Tony asked sarcastically, spreading his arms wide in invitation.

"They want something you have.” Loki’s voice was monotone, hinting at nothing and yet everything at the same time, and Tony shied away from all that could be revealed in that voice. Just because he was a cocky genius did not mean that he didn’t recognize another with wit and power, it meant that he used a practical diversion to stay the inevitable conversation.

Tony waved off Loki’s cryptic comment and chuckled lightly. "Well, yeah, but everyone on Midgard wants something I have. What they want is special." The smile slowly fell from Tony’s face and the change caused Loki and Bruce to lean in towards him, drawn into his charismatic aura.

"They are planning on stealing the specs to my suit or reactor and using it to create and Iron Man that I am not piloting." Perhaps it was the softness of his voice, or maybe it was the gentleness with which he spoke the words, but there was a chasm of perfect silence for 2.94 seconds. The pain that Tony felt when he spoke the truth was so strong that he was forced to dip his head till his chin touched his chest to hide his face from sight.

They were planning on taking away the one purpose, the one good thing, that he had left in this world just so that they had better control. The pain was not only because someone dared to take something so precious from him but because he was almost willing to let them do it. Surely there was someone out there with far less questionable morals to fly the suit but the suit and him were one and that had never changed. The people might still see him as two separate entities, Iron Man and Tony Stark, the hero and the failure, but on the inside they were one in the same and that wasn’t changing anytime soon. Tony’s heart was hardened because he would always protect what was his.

"What in the-" Loki began, confusion written on his sharp features.

"Why would-" Bruce started, empathy and compassion flittering across his face.

"That's not all." Tony softly continued, his calm easily breaking through the storm.

"Because I am so dangerous and know so much, which I do; I have backdoors into every system on the planet, like the CIA or the FBI to name just two, and can monitor or destroy any or all of them with a single command to JARVIS; they want to do more than just get rid of me as Iron Man.” The pain was back and Tony felt pity for Fury, SHIELD, and anyone who stood beside them because they would fail.

“They want to discredit me and my company so that Tony Stark falls as well as Iron Man." They would pay for ever thinking that they could outsmart Tony Stark or defeat Iron Man. The fire that burned bright in the depths of Tony’s eyes was something that the engineer could see reflected back at him in Loki’s unnaturally bright green orbs.

It was a constant reminder that they had both been wronged and both longed for revenge. The only big difference was that Loki was, at the moment, incapable of unleashing his wrath and Tony had years of practice and patience that no one expected him to have in him.

"I'm still not hearing a plan, Stark," Loki’s snarky voice cut in through his comparison. Tony had to smile at the similarities that he saw. The accumulated parallels didn’t scare him quite so much anymore.

"The plan is quite simple; play the dumb narcissistic genius until I figure out just how SHIELD thought they could take what is mine and then threaten them till they never even think to do this again. All the while keeping you," Tony stuck his pointer finger out towards Bruce who kept a marvelously straight face, “and you," Tony retracted his hand and merely inclined his head towards Loki because there was no reason to make Loki any angrier when they would be sleeping in the same bed together later, “safe and out of the cross-fire."

"You know that I'm practically bulletproof, Tony," Bruce said with a world weary smile, both remembering the angry story of Bruce’s failed suicide, and Tony gave Bruce a genuine curl of his lips in response.

"I know," Tony said as he stared into the eyes of a man so innocent for having seen so much damage and destruction, "but just because you can take the pain doesn't mean you should have to take it." Bruce’s head dipped down, his eyes squeezed shut, for a moment before he looked back up and grasped Tony’s upper arm tightly and nodding once in thanks.

The bright noise of high chirps broke the solemness and Tony turned to Dummy with a lighter smile on his face. “See, even Dummy agrees with me.” Tony reached over Loki to pat the bots claw affectionately, the raven-haired man having to duck slightly to avoid being hit or leaned on excessively.

“Stark, you are the only one able to understand them,” Tony nodded vigorously in response to Loki’s statement and his grin stretched wider in amusement as You and Butterfingers chimed in with their own beeps and chirps, “and you are gaining an abnormally large amount of amusement from keeping us in the dark.” Tony’s grin only stretched wider and he began to laugh.

The infectious ways of laughter soon influenced the other men until everyone was smiling and the bots were making increasingly high pitched chirps and were bouncing their camera’s up in down in their own, unique, form of laughter and merriment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are my motivation; please review!
> 
> Revised: March 13, 2018


End file.
